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(Dec 3): Rapid approval of Pfizer Inc’s coronavirus vaccine in the UK is unlikely to accelerate vaccine availability in Asia as countries work to complete local safety testing and negotiate deals .
Asia’s largest economies, including China and Japan, have yet to finalize national clinical trials to prove Pfizer injection is safe, and even then, most countries have set deliveries for next year. Additionally, some developing Asian nations with the largest outbreaks do not have agreements with Pfizer and lack the means to distribute and store the vaccine, which must be kept frozen.
UK approval does not automatically make vaccines available elsewhere. The Pfizer opportunity must deal with a maze of regulations and data shipments in every country. Much endorsements are dependent on the US Food and Drug Administration giving the go ahead for the vaccine, which is expected on December 10.
While all countries are eager for vaccines to stop the pandemic, much of Asia is in better shape than the West, somewhat reducing the urgency for a rapid vaccine. Australia, which is seeing very few cases in the community, said its schedule for the Pfizer injection remains unchanged, with a decision on approval expected next January and the first delivery of the vaccine likely in March.
“Australia is in a much better position in terms of the number of cases and community transmission than the UK,” said Adam Taylor, a virologist at Griffith University in Queensland. “Australia can afford to wait for full approval for the use of the vaccine.”
Of the places with the largest and most urgent outbreaks (the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia), only Malaysia has an agreement with Pfizer and must await approval from the US FDA as well as approval from the local regulator. Malaysia’s chief health officer, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said there is no intention to advance the vaccine in light of the UK’s decision.
The Philippines and Indonesia, meanwhile, rely on vaccines developed by China, which are currently still in the testing phase.
Japanese law allows a vaccine to be approved for emergency use if another country with similarly stringent drug regulatory standards has approved it, including the UK.
But Pfizer said in October that it plans to apply for approval of the vaccine using data from the global trial and a separate trial in Japan, which is ongoing.
The top Japanese government spokesman said on Wednesday that the country would work to confirm the efficacy and safety of the Pfizer vaccine, if a request for approval has been submitted.
A similar process is planned to follow in China, where Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group has the local license to distribute the Pfizer vaccine. In Hong Kong, authorities have the practice of giving drugs the green light, after they are approved by the US FDA, and this is likely to apply to Pfizer’s vaccine.
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