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Companies are rushing to experiment with Corona virus vaccines, and among them are companies that have come a long way without announcing their results.
The companies “Pfizer”, “Biontech” and “Moderna” announced, during the last two weeks, very successful trials of vaccines against Corona.
Other vaccines are in development, including a third major trial, which is being carried out by the Belgian company “Janssen” in the UK.
Why do we need a vaccine? If you want life to go back to normal, we need a vaccine. However, the vaccine will safely teach our bodies how to fight infections, either by providing protection against infection with the Coronavirus in the first place or at least by making Covid-19 less deadly. So finding a vaccine, along with better treatments, is an “exit strategy” from the crisis.
What are the vaccines most likely to be successful?
Pfizer and Biontech were the first to share information on the final stages of vaccine trials. Data indicates that the vaccine can protect more than 90 percent of people from the risk of contracting COVID-19. About 43,000 people participated in the vaccine trial and no safety concerns were identified. Moderna also conducted a vaccine trial that included 30,000 people in the United States, half of whom were injected with an inactive substance. The company said its vaccine provides 94.5 percent protection, and analysis of the results of the experiment was based on the first 95 volunteers who showed symptoms of Covid-19, and only five people who took the actual vaccine showed symptoms. . The results of experiments on a vaccine developed by the British pharmaceutical company “AstraZeneca”, in cooperation with scientists from the University of Oxford, are also expected to appear in the coming weeks.
At the same time, encouraging data emerged about a Russian vaccine called “Sputnik V.” The Russian researchers said the vaccine is 92 percent effective, depending on the interim results of the third-stage trial, which is the same stage that Pfizer reached.
What other vaccines are in development? In the coming weeks and months, more results are expected from other teams working on conducting advanced trials.
Janssen started his experiment with 6,000 people across Britain, and other countries will join the effort to bring the total number to 30,000 people. The company is already conducting a large-scale trial of the vaccine, during which volunteers receive one dose, and this will determine whether or not a patient receives two doses, providing stronger and longer-lasting immunity.
Several other vaccines are in the final testing phase, including trials from the Wuhan Institute for Biologicals and Sinopharm in China, and the Gamalia Research Institute in Russia. Despite this, a trial in Brazil of a drug developed by the Chinese company “Sinovac” was suspended after what was described as a “very serious accident”, following the death of a volunteer.
How are vaccines different?
The vaccine aims to expose parts of the virus in a harmless way to the immune system, which then identifies it as an attacker and learns how to fight it, and there are many ways to do this.
Pfizer / Biontech and Moderna have developed what is known as an RNA (or RNA) vaccine, which uses this experimental method, which involves injecting part of the virus’s genetic code into the body to train the immune system. While the company’s “Janssen” vaccine instead uses the common cold viruses after they have been genetically modified to make them harmless, to more closely resemble the Corona virus on a molecular level, and this should lead to training the immune system to recognize and fight the Corona virus. Similarly, the Oxford vaccine and the Russian vaccine use a harmless virus that infects chimpanzees, genetically modified to resemble the Corona virus, in an effort to elicit a response. Furthermore, two of the largest vaccines made in China use the original virus, but in its inactivated form, so it cannot cause infection.
When will the vaccine be available?
Trials must show that the vaccine is safe. And clinical trials must show that vaccines prevent disease or at least reduce deaths. In addition to the development of potentially billions of doses on a large scale. There is a belief that 60-70 percent of the world’s population should be immune to limit the spread of the virus (this is called herd immunity).
