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The fact that the government makes a deal to buy two more brands of Covid-19 vaccines is proof of good progress, says a clinical microbiologist.
David Murdoch.
Photo: University of Otago
University of Otago professor David Murdoch is a clinical microbiologist who was consulted for the Covid-19 Technical Advisory Group of the Ministry of Health and WHO.
He said Nine at noon the announcement of the new vaccines showed good progress.
“This is a very complex program that has been established, the largest of all vaccines for the country. So it’s interesting to see the additional details, really fill in some gaps. Now we have four vaccines in the portfolio that are different; they have different technologies; there are more than the population. There are some options if some are not successful. “
A total of 7.6 million doses will come from AstraZeneca, enough for 3.8 million people and 10.72 million doses of Novavax, enough for 5.36 million people. Both vaccines require the administration of two doses.
The government already has pre-purchase agreements for 750,000 courses from Pfizer / BioNTech and 5 million from Janssen.
Murdoch said it was a balanced portfolio and the timeline for it to be available in mid-2021 wasn’t too bad.
He reiterated the advice of the World Health Organization that higher income countries should go through their Covax Facility to ensure equity for all countries.
He said the Pfizer vaccine would be “more challenging” logistically because it needed to be stored at -70 ° C; the other vaccines can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures.
“The freezers have been bought … if they are strategically located, that can be overcome.”
“The big challenge, of course, is scale.”
He said that it would be necessary for there to be several vaccinators on the ground.
Welcome vaccine portfolio
Microbiologist Dr. Siouxsie Wiles said Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan the announcement was great news.
He said that some of the technologies used within the vaccine portfolio would be good for some people but not for others, while some would be more acceptable to some communities than others.
One vaccine announced today is a protein vaccine, which means taking parts of the virus and injecting them, and another is a viral vector vaccine, which means taking parts of another virus and manipulating it with the coronavirus proteins.
“I think there will be some people who are uncomfortable with that kind of technology.”
Dr. Wiles said it was appropriate for New Zealand to donate $ 10 million to the Covax program which is trying to ensure a fair distribution of Covid-19 vaccines around the world.
It was important to acquire vaccines not only for the citizens of New Zealand but also for the Pacific neighbors “because one of the things that we are seeing in this pandemic is that the rich countries are basically taking everything and leaving other countries with nothing and Frankly, that’s not enough. “
“Basically none of us are safe until we are all safe, so a great result.”
MedSafe authorization is required before any vaccine can be approved; however, the process is accelerating as all the data on each vaccine is passed on as it accumulates rather than waiting until the end of trials.
Dr Wiles said that vaccinating all New Zealanders will be a massive logistical exercise, but that planning and training are already underway and it will be important to collect data on things like negative reactions.
Meanwhile, vaccinologist Helen Petousis Harris is optimistic that the government can avoid vaccination errors in the past when it comes to the Covid vaccine.
Dr. Harris has criticized vaccine launches in the past, especially the improper process during last year’s measles outbreak.
He said this year’s effort was already better organized, with a host of experts giving input and detailed logistics planning already underway.
