India became the fourth country to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, authorizing the launch of the vaccine in the coming weeks in the country with the second highest number of infections.
The following is what we know about the race to deliver vaccines to help end the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 1.8 million people worldwide:
WHO IS AHEAD?
The American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German partner BioNTech have pioneered the Covid-19 vaccine.
On November 18, they became the first in the world to publish full test data in the last stage. Britain was the first to approve the injection for emergency use on December 3, followed by Canada on December 9 and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 11. Several other countries, including Saudi Arabia and Mexico, also approved it. .
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the injection on December 21 and India is speeding up its review.
The World Health Organization listed the vaccine for emergency use on Thursday, in a move to accelerate access to it in the developing world.
AND MODERN?
Moderna Inc was second only to Pfizer in many countries after it released a full data analysis for a late-stage trial on November 30 that showed a 94.1% efficacy rate for its vaccine.
The United States authorized Moderna’s vaccine on December 19, while Canada approved the injection on December 23 and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will do so on January 6.
ASTRAZENECA
India’s approval of a two-dose version of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine, which has also received the green light from Britain, Argentina and El Salvador, is a major victory for an injection deemed crucial for mass immunizations.
Questions about the robustness of your test data have complicated the approval process.
The British company announced interim data from the latest stage of the trial in November showing that two full doses were 62% effective, while a half dose followed by a full dose had a 90% success rate, but regulators of the UK the most successful result had not withstood analysis.
AstraZeneca is also in discussions with the European Union’s European Medicines Agency, which is conducting an ongoing review of the vaccine.
WHO ELSE IS IN THE RACE?
US drugmaker Johnson & Johnson plans to deliver test data in January, preparing it for US clearance in February if its injection is effective. He lowered the enrollment target for his clinical trial to 40,000 volunteers from 60,000 on Dec. 9, potentially accelerating results that are linked to how quickly participants become infected.
US firm Novavax is conducting a last-stage test in Britain with data expected in the first quarter of 2021. It expects to start a full-scale test in the United States this month.
However, France’s Sanofi and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline announced a setback on December 11 in their attempts to develop a vaccine. Drug makers said it showed insufficient immune responses in older people in the mid-stage trials and that they would begin a new study in February.
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE TRIALS?
Companies generally test their vaccines against a placebo, usually saline, in healthy volunteers to see if the rate of Covid-19 infection among those who received the vaccine is significantly lower than among those who received the sham injection.
HOW ARE VOLUNTEERS INFECTED?
The trials are based on subjects being naturally infected with Covid-19, so the time it takes to generate results depends largely on how widespread the virus is where the trials are conducted. Each pharmacist has targeted a specific number of infections to trigger a first analysis of their data.
HOW ARE VACCINES SUPPOSED TO WORK?
The World Health Organization ideally wants to see at least 70% effectiveness. The FDA wants at least 50%, which means there must be at least twice as many infections among volunteers who received a placebo than among those in the vaccine group. The EMA has said it can accept a lower level of effectiveness.
WHAT ABOUT RUSSIA AND CHINA?
Although Pfizer’s vaccine was the first to be implemented after the release of the full data from the phase III trial, Russia and China have been vaccinating their citizens for months with several different vaccines that are still in late-stage trials.
China on Dec. 31 approved its first Covid-19 vaccine for general public use, an injection developed by a subsidiary of the state-backed pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm. The company said it is 79% effective against the virus.
Russia said on Nov. 24 that its Sputnik V vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Institute, was 91.4% effective according to interim results from the last stage of the trial. It began vaccinating in August and has so far inoculated more than 100,000 people.
India plans to produce 300 million doses of Sputnik V next year and Argentina has given the green light for emergency use of the injection, with some 300,000 doses due to arrive in the country on December 24.
China launched an emergency use program in July targeting essential workers and others at high risk of infection. It has vaccinated about a million people in mid-November using at least three injections: one developed by the state-backed China National Biotechnology Group (CNBG) and another by Sinovac Biotech.
Trial data on a Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech has varied: Interim data from a late-stage trial in Turkey showed that its CoronaVac injection is 91.25% effective, while researchers in Brazil say that the injection was more than 50% effective.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates said on Dec. 9 that one of the CNBG vaccines was 86% effective based on interim results from a late-stage trial in the Arab Gulf state.
The following is what we know about the race to deliver vaccines to help end the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 1.8 million people worldwide:
WHO IS AHEAD?
The American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German partner BioNTech have pioneered the Covid-19 vaccine.
On November 18, they became the first in the world to publish full test data in the last stage. Britain was the first to approve the injection for emergency use on December 3, followed by Canada on December 9 and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 11. Several other countries, including Saudi Arabia and Mexico, also approved it. .
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the injection on December 21 and India is speeding up its review.
The World Health Organization listed the vaccine for emergency use on Thursday, in a move to accelerate access to it in the developing world.
AND MODERN?
Moderna Inc was second only to Pfizer in many countries after it released a full data analysis for a late-stage trial on November 30 that showed a 94.1% efficacy rate for its vaccine.
The United States authorized Moderna’s vaccine on December 19, while Canada approved the injection on December 23 and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will do so on January 6.
ASTRAZENECA
India’s approval of a two-dose version of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine, which has also received the green light from Britain, Argentina and El Salvador, is a major victory for an injection deemed crucial for mass immunizations.
Questions about the robustness of your test data have complicated the approval process.
The British company announced interim data from the latest stage of the trial in November showing that two full doses were 62% effective, while a half dose followed by a full dose had a 90% success rate, but regulators of the UK the most successful result had not withstood analysis.
AstraZeneca is also in discussions with the European Union’s European Medicines Agency, which is conducting an ongoing review of the vaccine.
WHO ELSE IS IN THE RACE?
US drugmaker Johnson & Johnson plans to deliver test data in January, preparing it for US clearance in February if its injection is effective. He lowered the enrollment target for his clinical trial to 40,000 volunteers from 60,000 on Dec. 9, potentially accelerating results that are linked to how quickly participants become infected.
US firm Novavax is conducting a last-stage test in Britain with data expected in the first quarter of 2021. It expects to start a full-scale test in the United States this month.
However, France’s Sanofi and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline announced a setback on December 11 in their attempts to develop a vaccine. Drug makers said it showed insufficient immune responses in older people in the mid-stage trials and that they would begin a new study in February.
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE TRIALS?
Companies generally test their vaccines against a placebo, usually saline, in healthy volunteers to see if the rate of Covid-19 infection among those who received the vaccine is significantly lower than among those who received the sham injection.
HOW ARE VOLUNTEERS INFECTED?
The trials are based on subjects being naturally infected with Covid-19, so the time it takes to generate results depends largely on how widespread the virus is where the trials are conducted. Each pharmacist has targeted a specific number of infections to trigger a first analysis of their data.
HOW ARE VACCINES SUPPOSED TO WORK?
The World Health Organization ideally wants to see at least 70% effectiveness. The FDA wants at least 50%, which means there must be at least twice as many infections among volunteers who received a placebo than among those in the vaccine group. The EMA has said it can accept a lower level of effectiveness.
WHAT ABOUT RUSSIA AND CHINA?
Although Pfizer’s vaccine was the first to be implemented after the release of the full data from the phase III trial, Russia and China have been vaccinating their citizens for months with several different vaccines that are still in late-stage trials.
China on Dec. 31 approved its first Covid-19 vaccine for general public use, an injection developed by a subsidiary of the state-backed pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm. The company said it is 79% effective against the virus.
Russia said on Nov. 24 that its Sputnik V vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Institute, was 91.4% effective according to interim results from the last stage of the trial. It began vaccinating in August and has so far inoculated more than 100,000 people.
India plans to produce 300 million doses of Sputnik V next year and Argentina has given the green light for emergency use of the injection, with some 300,000 doses due to arrive in the country on December 24.
China launched an emergency use program in July targeting essential workers and others at high risk of infection. It has vaccinated about a million people in mid-November using at least three injections: one developed by the state-backed China National Biotechnology Group (CNBG) and another by Sinovac Biotech.
Trial data on a Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech has varied: Interim data from a late-stage trial in Turkey showed that its CoronaVac injection is 91.25% effective, while researchers in Brazil say that the injection was more than 50% effective.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates said on Dec. 9 that one of the CNBG vaccines was 86% effective based on interim results from a late-stage trial in the Arab Gulf state.
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