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The World Health Organization recently announced that 170 vaccines are being evaluated, which are in various stages of clinical trials. Seven of them are in phase 3, the final stage before being approved by regulators. Photo REUTERS
The global scientific fight to produce an effective and safe vaccine against COVID-19 is accelerating. However, the international effort has become part, as it did with the conquest of space, in an attempt to consolidate geopolitical and scientific superiority, something that will have unknown consequences for public health.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced that 170 vaccines are being evaluated, which are in various clinical trials. Seven of them are in phase 3, the final stage before being approved by regulators. Everything registers encouraging results.
The Moderna Inc. vaccine, for example, appears to work well in people over the age of 56, triggering the production of antibodies just like in younger people and raising the hope of protecting vulnerable groups.
The vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, triggers an immune response and production of T lymphocytes, and is expected to be evaluated by monitoring mechanisms by the end of the year if sufficient safety and effective data is collected. Less optimistic, Professor Chris Whitey, England’s head of health services, estimates that there will be no vaccines before the winter of 2021-22.
China revealed on Monday that it has already begun mass vaccination of specific population groups, with the vaccine developed by the state pharmaceutical industry Sinopharm in collaboration with the Military Academy of Sciences. The vaccine triggers an immune response, has rare and mild side effects, but has yet to complete phase 3 clinical trials in the United Arab Emirates. The company estimates that its vaccine will be available in pharmacies in December.
With the launch of the vaccine, Beijing “stole” the “world first” in the use of the COVID-19 vaccine from Moscow. A few days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin, emphasizing the national importance of development, announced that the Russian Sputnik 5 vaccine was the first in the world to be widely used, after only two months of clinical research. In fact, he stressed that one of his daughters was already vaccinated. Sputnik 5 was produced in the Gamelaya research laboratory, in collaboration with the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is administered in two doses and, according to the Russian Ministry of Health, offers two years of protection against the coronavirus. “I know it is effective, it triggers the development of immunity and, I repeat, it has passed all the necessary tests,” said the Russian president. However, many scientists in Russia and abroad, as well as the WHO, were surprised by the speed with which the vaccine was made, but also by the absolute secrecy surrounding its development. On Wednesday it was announced that a second Russian vaccine, this time from the Siberian Institute of Virology, would be approved in the next two months.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, who looks for an easy way out of his situation, also seems to be in the mood to “accelerate the control procedures” for the “speedy” approval of the Oxford vaccine. The United States, in an election year, registers about 5 million cases of coronavirus and cries about 180,000 deaths from COVID-19. According to a Financial Times report, the US government will attempt to go beyond the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conventional vaccine approval process to receive “emergency use approval” in October and vaccination massive to start earlier. Elections of November 3. Such an effort is likely to shake the already limited confidence of Americans in vaccines.
Complain
This is not the first time that the President of the United States has lobbied the FDA to achieve its goal. A week ago he denounced the organization and the “deep state” via Twitter for voluntarily delaying clinical trials of vaccines “so that they were not available before the presidential elections” and highlighted the urgent need to accelerate the process. Similarly, in the past, the President of the United States has lobbied for the adoption of various “miracle cures” against COVID-19, such as chloroquine, and more recently, the recovery of recovered plasma.
Dr. Walid Zeland, director of the Center for Drug Policy and Prescription at the University of Pittsburgh, claims that the FDA has falsified data on the efficacy of plasma delivery, noting that President Trump is trying to politicize the COID drug approval process. 19. “In the coming months, as vaccine clinical trial data is collected, the safety of millions of people will depend on the scientific judgment of the FDA.” If you ‘overdo’ your evaluation, we will face a big problem, “he said .
Even the change in the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for coronavirus tests, to be performed only in patients with symptoms and not in asymptomatic patients in the context of follow-up of case contacts. confirmed, was attributed by a CDC official to “pressure from above.” President Trump has repeatedly stated that “America needs to do less testing.”
Medicines
Although we are far from the definitive drug treatment of COVID-19, many preparations in the trial phase have satisfactory results. Among them dominate:
1. Dexamethasone. During the investigation, dexamethasone helped one of eight intubated patients survive. Today it is included in the treatment protocol for the most serious cases.
2. Creature of recovery. Plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 is rich in antibodies. Experts say they do not have enough data on the efficacy of plasma administration.
3. Remdesivir. The preparation has been used from time to time against hepatitis C and Ebola. In COVID-19 it shortens hospital stay, but it is unknown if it reduces mortality.
4. Tosilizumab. Immunosuppressive agent, administered against rheumatoid arthritis. As an injection, it blocks interleukin 6. When given to Italian patients, it reduces the risk of intubation.
5. Antihypertensive pills. One study showed that hypertensive patients had a lower risk of serious illness or death if they took angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers. However, the preparations are useless in coronavirus patients who are not hypertensive.
6. Interferon – inhaled beta. A small British study showed that the inhaled formulation, which is given to patients with multiple sclerosis, reduces hospitalization time for COVID-19 patients.
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