After the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine showed results that were 70% effective in preventing Covid-19 among volunteers, the company has said that the vaccine could become 90% effective. Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India (SII), which is manufacturing the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, has said that it will focus on distributing the vaccine in India first.
Russia, on the other hand, has assured that its Sputnik V vaccine will be cheaper than the vaccines against the coronavirus that the United States is developing, including the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine.
AstraZeneca vaccine could be 90% effective
After announcing that its coronavirus vaccine is 70% effective on average, AstraZeneca has now said that the vaccine could become 90% effective and give the world another powerful weapon against Covid-19 that will be cheaper and easily available.
AstraZeneca has also said that compared to the volume of coronavirus vaccine that Pfizer is making, AstraZeneca will have many more doses ready for the world. The company has said 200 million doses by the end of 2020, which is 4 times what Pfizer is producing.
His earlier announcement that the coronavirus vaccine was 70% effective was a deterrent, as 3 other vaccines – Pfizer, Moderna and Russia’s Sputnik V – had more than 90% effective vaccines in the works.
However, AstraZeneca has an advantage with its affordable price and is also easy to store at normal refrigerator temperatures, unlike the Pfizer vaccine which requires storage at minus 70 degrees Celsius.
‘India First’ for IBS at AstraZeneca Vaccine Delivery
As AstraZeneca delivered positive news on its coronavirus vaccine development front, its Indian partner, Serum Institute of India Director Adar Poonawalla, said the company will focus on delivering the vaccine in India first. “It is very important that we take care of our country first, then we go to Covax and then to other bilateral agreements with countries. So I have kept it at that priority,” Poonawalla said.
Adar Poonawalla said the Serum Institute is in talks with the government to seal a purchase agreement and expects the first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine to reach Indian markets in April 2021.
IBS chief Poonawalla has also said that quantities of the vaccine will be ready for sale in the private Indian market in the first quarter of 2021.
Russia says its Sputnik V vaccine will be cheaper
Russia claims that its pioneering Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine will cost less than its western rivals, which come with a steep price tag and also difficult storage and logistics requirements. Following announcements of the vaccine’s efficacy, US pharmaceutical giants have begun announcing how much their products will cost. Now Russia has said that its vaccine candidate will be cheaper.
The two US drug makers that intend to bring their vaccines to market first have revealed their pricing strategies. Pfizer, which applied for approval of its formula in the United States on Saturday, previously said that one dose of its product will be priced at $ 19.50. Moderna, which is believed to be close to signing an agreement for a comprehensive deployment in the European Union, announced this week that it will charge between $ 25 and $ 37.
With one person requiring 2 doses of the coronavirus vaccine, spaced weeks apart, the total cost will double $ 39 for Pfizer and $ 50-74 for Moderna.
WHO hopes for AstraZeneca vaccine
World Health Organization chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Monday they were waiting to see the efficacy and safety of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine and urged other developers to maintain efforts to provide enough doses for billions. of people.
Soumya Swaminathan said that the company’s highest reported success rates of around 90 percent were “encouraging” but based on “pretty small numbers.”
(With input from Reuters)
