[ad_1]
The world woke up this Wednesday with the news that the United Kingdom approved the first vaccine against covid-19, which will allow it to apply it massively to its population at risk from next week, as a pharmacological response to the pandemic.
It is an emergency approval of the biological from Pfizer and BioNTech, which will also serve to obtain epidemiological, pharmacological and results information from a platform that is being tested for the first time in the world.
(In context: get all the details about the ad)
And while the approval is based on the analysis of preliminary results provided by the pharmaceutical company to the English regulatory agency, it is expected that in the coming days the requests submitted to the US FDA and the European EMA will be answered.
1. How does it work?
Pfizer and BioNTech use a genetic platform in which they take a fragment of the mRNA (ribonucleic acid of the virus) and coat it with a fat (lipid) to introduce it into the human body and teach the immune system to know the coronavirus and fight it. The RNA fragment does not cause infection but is only a part of the virus that is made synthetically.
Specifically, when it enters cells it carries the message so that the spike S protein of the new coronavirus is produced inside them. This protein is identified by the defenses as a foreign element and causes the immune system to make antibodies and active cells to attack them. These defenses remain in memory and when the true coronavirus reaches the body, there are already biological tools to prevent it from multiplying.
(It may interest you: When would the majority of the Colombian population receive the vaccine?)
2. New technique
It is the first time that an mRNA vaccine has been approved in the Western world. Until now, vaccines had been developed with other types of techniques that include attenuated viruses, viral vectors and even synthetic components.
3. Effectiveness
On November 9, the spokespersons of the pharmaceutical company announced that their vaccine against the new coronavirus was 94.5 percent effective, based on preliminary results and without detecting serious side effects. In other words, in the trials, almost 95 out of 100 people had protective responses to Sars-CoV-2.
4. Dose
Based on research and preliminary test results, This vaccine will be given in two injections 21 days apart in each person to obtain the announced immunity.
(Also read: Europe decides on the first covid-19 vaccine before December 29)
5. How was it approved so quickly?
The Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom explained that the analysis of the vaccine was based on all the international standards that exist for this purpose and according to its director, June Raine, to save time they worked “separate teams in parallel”, “day and night”, with weekends included, in the different aspects, without waiting for one to finish before starting the other. In short, they did not skip any stages but instead overlapped each other to advance more quickly.
6. How long does it protect?
According to the infectologist Carlos Pérez, from the National University, it is still too early to know how long the real immunity of this and other vaccines lasts, so it is necessary that all those who receive the vaccine be followed exhaustively to evaluate the type of defenses they produce and their concentration in the blood over time. It is important to know that if immunity is depleted, as with other vaccines, will have to put new doses. However, it is something that is unknown so far.
7. Extreme cooling
To keep this vaccine stable requires a temperature ranging between -70 and -80 degrees Celsius, This requires the provision of specific logistics for its transport, storage and distribution. It is known that the pharmaceutical company will deliver batches of vaccines in containers that meet these characteristics, that transport and courier companies are already adapting to these requirements and it is expected that countries will guarantee cold chains until their application.
(See: Know the three most advanced vaccines against covid-19)
8. Who will get it first?
Although Pfizer announced that it is capable of manufacturing 1.3 billion doses before the end of 2021, which could be increased if it is associated with others, it is known that for now the first to receive it will be the population most at risk in England. That country has lists of 40 million doses that will be applied in people of more than 80 years and with comorbidities that increase the probability of fatal outcomes caused by covid-19, as well as health workers. That administration will begin next week.
9. Does this vaccine work in all countries?
Although the virus has mutated since its appearance, to the point of being more than 150 sublineages in the world, the infectologist Carlos Álvarez explains that these mutations are normal in this type of virus. Until now it has not been proven that there are mutations that change the structure of the virus or its aggressiveness and transmissibility conditions. In any case, vaccine manufacturers are aware of these changes, hence it is expected that this biological can be applied without problems in all countries.
10. Who else has bought the vaccine?
The company, which also requested emergency approval in the United States, assures that that country has already reserved more than 100 million doses and the European Union another 300 million. The latter region awaits approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to proceed with its distribution. It is also known that Colombia is negotiating directly with this pharmaceutical company for this vaccine, that for now has not been confirmed in the portfolio of the COVAX mechanism.
(We recommend: Vaccine at all costs: reflections after days of intense public debate)
HEALTH UNIT
