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In the fight against the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, the tide seems to be turning in humanity’s favor: Within about two weeks, Western developers Biontech / Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca / University of Oxford announced successes with their candidate vaccines. The positive: all three vaccines work against the pathogen. However, there are notable differences between the three vaccines.
Here is an overview of what the respective candidates can do:
Biontech / Pfizer
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Name: BNT162b2
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Type of vaccine: mRNA vaccine
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First information on effectiveness: November 9, 2020 (press release)
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effectiveness: 95 percent
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Side effects: So far no serious side effects have been observed.
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Cost per dose: Approximately $ 20 (two cans required)
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Cooling: It must be shipped and stored at minus 70 degrees. It will keep for five days at normal refrigerator temperature.
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Effect on risk groups: It works equally well for all age groups and other demographics. Efficacy in people over 65 years to 94 percent.
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Degree of protection: It is not clear if the vaccine protects against serious diseases. There were ten courses of severe disease in the study, nine of which occurred in the placebo group. But a vaccinated person also became seriously ill with Covid-19.
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Impact on the pandemic: It is not clear whether transmission of the virus will be stopped.
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Capacity: Such a vaccine should be able to be manufactured on a large scale faster than conventional ones. Biontech / Pfizer want to provide up to 50 million doses of vaccines worldwide this year and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
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Approval status: Emergency FDA approval has been pending. The documents have been sent to the European approval authority Ema.
Conclusion: Very high effectiveness. The vaccine should be stored at minus 70 degrees. Pfizer noted, however, that it has extensive experience in refrigerated vaccine storage and transportation and already has a corresponding global infrastructure. Questions about protection against serious diseases and the ability to stop transmission of the pathogen remain open.
Modern
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Name: MRNA-1273
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Type of vaccine: mRNA vaccine
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First information on effectiveness: November 16, 2020 (press release)
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Effectiveness: 94.5 percent
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Side effects: Mild. So far no serious side effects have been observed.
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Cost per dose: Around $ 25 (two cans required)
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Cooling: Stable for 30 days at normal refrigerator temperature. It can be stored for up to six months at minus 20 degrees Celsius.
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Effect on risk groups: Evidence of effectiveness regardless of the age of the vaccinated Protective effect possibly also for people with chronic diseases.
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Degree of protection: Advice on protection against the infection itself and also against serious courses of Covid-19.
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Impact on the pandemic: It is not clear whether transmission of the virus will be stopped.
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Capacity: Moderna expects to deliver 20 million cans this year and 500 million to 1 billion cans next year.
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Approval status: Moderna hopes to apply for an emergency permit in the United States in the next few weeks. Ema started an expedited approval process for the vaccine.
Conclusion: Very high effectiveness. Moderna can also score points with its vaccine with logistical advantages, since it does not require ultra-cold storage like the Biontech vaccine. It is not clear whether the vaccine can stop transmission of the pathogen.
Astrazeneca / University of Oxford
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Name: AZD1222
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Vaccine type: Vector vaccine
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First information on effectiveness: November 23, 2020 (press release)
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Effectiveness: 62 to 90 percent. The effectiveness depends on the dose.
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Side effects: So far no serious side effects have been observed.
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Cost per dose: Few dollars per dose. In June, the Italian Health Ministry said that one dose would cost around 2.50 euros in Europe.
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Cooling: It can be transported and stored at a refrigerator temperature of two to eight degrees.
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Effect on risk groups: It should also work well with particularly endangered older subjects – older study participants produced as many anti-Sars-CoV-2 antibodies as younger ones.
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Impact on the pandemic: It could also reduce the transmission of the virus.
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Capacity: More than 300 million doses of vaccines are expected to have been delivered worldwide by the end of March 2021. A total of three billion cans should be available in 2021, of which more than 50 million are planned for Germany .
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Approval status: Astrazeneca plans to start talks with the US FDA this week. Data should be forwarded to authorities around the world where fast track procedures are possible.
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Special features: In early September, the global clinical trial was temporarily halted after a participant had a neurological incident, possibly an inflammation of the central nervous system.
Conclusion: The overall protective effect is slightly lower than the two BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines. However, the AZD1222 has a great advantage: it is temperature resistant and easy to use, so it can also be used in countries with fewer resources for complex cold chains. Also, the vaccine is significantly cheaper than mRNA vaccines.
What happens now? Here there is a short description:
When could vaccines be approved in the EU?
None of the three corona vaccines mentioned has yet been approved in Europe. The Federal Government and the EU Commission expect the first licenses to be issued in December. Before that, however, an examination by the European Medicines Agency Ema is necessary.
When will Germany receive the first delivery?
Once a product has been approved, all 27 EU countries should have access to it at the same time, but initially, depending on production capacity, only in small quantities. Vaccination doses in the EU are distributed according to the size of the population. Germany has an 18.6 percent stake.
Who gets vaccinated and when in Germany?
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn assumes that the first German citizens can be vaccinated in vaccination centers from December. In Germany, risk groups and healthcare workers should initially have priority. It will be months before everyone has a chance to get vaccinated.
Will there be enough vaccine doses for all EU countries?
If hopes for promising vaccines are fulfilled, the EU will eventually have more than enough units for the around 450 million inhabitants, even if the vaccine generally has to be administered twice. The EU Commission has negotiated a framework agreement with Moderna for up to 160 million doses, secured up to 300 million doses from Biontech / Pfizer and another 300 million doses from Astrazeneca. There are also other contracts with manufacturers that are not that far in development: up to 405 million cans from German manufacturer Curevac, up to 300 million cans from Sanofi-GSK, and up to 200 million cans from Johnson & Johnson.
