Updated: September 26, 2020 9:59:50 am
A worker stands near the word Safety while monitoring the production of the SARS CoV-2 vaccine for COVID-19 at a SinoVac factory in Beijing on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020 (AP Photo / Ng Han Guan).
Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker: The World Health Organization has released a detailed financial document arguing in favor of investing in an initiative that seeks to accelerate the development and equitable distribution of a coronavirus vaccine for all.
The Covax facility, which is run by WHO, requires $ 16 billion in funding, of which only $ 2 billion has been committed so far. The facility supports the development of nine candidate vaccines at this time. The money is needed to speed up the development process, increase manufacturing capabilities, and rapidly distribute these vaccines.
There are also similar initiatives for diagnosis and therapy. Together, these initiatives require funding of $ 38 billion, of which only $ 3 billion has been promised. The WHO says $ 15 billion is required immediately, while the rest may come in the following months.
Next Wednesday, world leaders will hold a virtual meeting on the sidelines of the current session of the UN General Assembly to discuss the work of these initiatives. Some financial promises are expected at this meeting.
The WHO has said that $ 35 billion was a small amount compared to the benefits that a swift end to the pandemic would bring. She said the world economy is likely to experience a $ 7 trillion contraction in the current year due to the pandemic. The early deployment of vaccines and therapies would minimize some of these losses. Furthermore, he said that $ 35 billion was less than one percent of what the G-20 countries had already pledged to revive their economies.
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Vaccine targeting India enters phase 3 trials
A coronavirus vaccine being developed by the American company Novavax has said it was beginning end-stage clinical trials in the UK. In the United States, these trials would begin next month.
This candidate vaccine is one that is supposed to be available in India as well. Pune-based Serum Institute of India has an agreement with Novavax to manufacture and distribute this vaccine in India and other low- and middle-income markets.
The company has said it plans to sign up 10,000 participants for its test in the UK.
The Novavax vaccine is the 10th candidate to enter phase 3 trials, including four from China and one from Russia. Aside from these, the vaccines being developed by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are currently in phase 3 trials at different locations.
Search for the coronavirus vaccine: the story so far
- 187 candidate vaccines in clinical or preclinical trials
- 38 of them in clinical trials
- Nine in the final stages, phase III human trials
- At least eight potential vaccines are under development in India. Two of them have entered phase II trials after completing phase I.
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The most commented:
* AstraZeneca / University of Oxford
* Modern
* Pfizer / BioNTech
* Johnson and Johnson
* Sanofi / GlaxoSmithKline
* Novavax
* Russian vaccine, developed by Gamaleya Insttiute in Moscow
* Three Chinese vaccines that have been approved for use in China without completion of phase 3 trials. One of them has received emergency use authorization in the UAE
(As of September 25; source: WHO Coronavirus Vaccine Overview of September 22, 2020)
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