[ad_1]
The budget reservations made by the Government of Colombia in recent days cleared the way for the purchase of the first covid-19 vaccines and they left negotiations with two projects, Oxford / AstraZeneca and Pfizer / BioNTech, down the stretch.
Specific, The country has ready more than 200 million dollars -123 for the Pfizer vaccine and 82 for the Oxford vaccine- that would be used to buy 20 million doses. If one takes into account that each vaccine must be applied in two doses, these would serve to vaccinate 10 million Colombians.
It should be noted that through bilateral mechanisms, progress is being made in obtaining more doses with other pharmaceutical companies such as Janssen, two Chinese institutes and an Indian institute, which also have advanced projects.
(Also read: What is known about the arrival of the Oxford vaccine in Colombia)
In any case, there are clear indications that these biologics are ready to land in the country soon: on the one hand, the specific definition of budgets through the resolutions of the Ministry of Finance; and on the other approval of licenses for emergency use of Pfizer’s vaccine in other countries and the imminence of this process being fulfilled with that of Oxford and AstraZeneca, which requested permission from the main regulatory agencies two weeks ago.
However, for that, Invima, which is the national regulatory agency, is required to start up for the first time. the mechanism that allows approval of the use in emergency conditions of products in advanced phases of research, as described in a draft decree of the Ministry of Health that will be signed in the next few days and that this newspaper revealed yesterday.
Although these conversations have been developed in absolute confidentiality frameworks, all these elements allow us to suppose that It is a matter of hours for the National Government to make these announcements known. In fact, one of the two negotiations would already be closed.
(You may be interested: Five keys about the arrival of the vaccine against covid-19 in Colombia)
Standing the COVAX mechanism
The Reuters news agency revealed yesterday that COVAX, the global plan to deliver covid-19 vaccines to the poorest countries promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO), faces a “very high” risk of failure, which It could leave billions of people without access to vaccines until 2024, according to internal documents.
However, the Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, clarified that Colombia is not among the 92 countries that require funding to access these vaccines because it is in the group that finances itself. In fact, The minister affirmed that the Nation already has contractual commitments with this mechanism to receive 20 million doses that will cover 10 million people from 2021.
Thus, with these three sources, Colombia would complete the risk group that it established to receive the first vaccines to arrive: health workers (800,000 people), over 60 years (6.8 million people) and population with comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and kidney deficiencies (6.4 million people).
(See also: Colombia returns to its ICU beds due to the pandemic)
As the Government has said, this unprecedented vaccination campaign would begin in the country in the first quarter of 2021.
Vaccines
The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine has already been approved in the United States and the United Kingdom, where it has already begun to be applied massively after publishing the results of its trials in a scientific journal. The Oxford and AstraZeneca is in the line for approvals, but it has already made its data public and has proven to be effective and secure.
They have several differences. The BNT162b2 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, based on the data analyzed, 95% effective after two 30-microgram doses, 21 days apart.
As this vaccine is based on a synthetic piece of genetic material of the virus (mRNA) that causes defense reactions in the human organism, it breaks down if not kept refrigerated at temperatures below minus 70 degrees Celsius, which requires huge logistics never before deployed for its transport and storage.
While, the AZD1222 vaccine against covid-19 developed by the British university and laboratory has acceptable safety levels and is effective. The Oxford team found that their vaccine, administered in two doses (preparatory and booster), is effective by an average of 70 percent, although the variation in the amount of each dose affects the result. Thus, when half a dose is administered followed by a full dose, the efficacy level of the vaccine rises to 90 percent and drops to 62 percent when volunteers receive two full doses of the preparation.
(You may be interested: This is how vaccination will be for Colombians)
AZD1222 was made from the genetic modification of a common cold virus that affects chimpanzees, but does not cause disease in humans and is capable of expressing the S protein of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes covid- 19.
In essence, this vaccine is based on the vector-viral platform that uses a designer virus to carry coronavirus genes and produce defense reactions in the body. In this case, a chimpanzee adenovirus called ChAvOx1 has been taken, which when tested in humans has been effective in terms of protection in people over 18 years of age.
This project has the great advantage of using a more traditional technology than its competitors, making it less expensive and easier to store and transport, since it does not need to be kept at a very low temperature: it can be stored for at least six months refrigerated between 2ºC and 8ºC, the British team specified.
HEALTH UNIT
