Covid 19 Coronavirus: What You Need To Know About Today’s Vaccine Announcement

The Government announced today its first purchase agreement for the Covid-19 vaccine. What does that mean? Science reporter Jamie Morton Explain.

What has been announced?

A deal that would provide New Zealand with around 1.5 million Covid-19 vaccines, or enough for 750,000 people.

But that’s subject to the makers of those vaccines, Pfizer and BioNTech, successfully completing Phase III clinical trials and passing regulatory approvals here.

If all goes well, the vaccines could be shipped to New Zealand from the first quarter of next year, said Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods.

“Pfizer has said that they are making good progress with the development of a Covid-19 vaccine,” he said.

“Subject to clinical and regulatory success, and as long as the vaccine is approved for use here in New Zealand by Medsafe, some doses may be available to us in the early part of 2021.”

What is the vaccine?

Global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech company BioNTech are behind a pool of candidates, namely one called BNT162b2, who are among the pioneers in the global vaccine race.

Studies so far have indicated that it elicits an antibody and T-cell response against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

T cells are white blood cells that can attack cells infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, while antibodies can neutralize the virus so that it cannot infect cells when they are initially contracted.

Together, it has a formidable shield against the coronavirus.

As an RNA vaccine, it worked by transporting genetic material into a cell, before encoding specific proteins for a virus.

This week, the vaccine was in its third and final Phase III trial at more than 120 sites around the world, and 28,000 people had already been given a second dose.

This month, the two companies launched an ongoing submission to the European Medicines Agency, while Health Canada began a real-time review of their candidate.

Would this be the only vaccine we could use?

University of Auckland Associate Professor of Vaccines Helen Petousis-Harris said today’s announcement marked the first purchase agreement, not the last.

“There are also others on the table,” he said.

Australia, for example, has already signed an agreement to mass-manufacture the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca’s viral vector vaccine, ChAdOx1-S, also in the phase III trial.

It has been shown to elicit a T-cell response within 14 days after vaccination, and an antibody response within 28 days.

Like the flu vaccines we are more used to, it is a viral vector vaccine and uses parts of a pathogen to effectively stimulate an immune response against it.

Petousis-Harris said another leader was the LNP-encapsulated mRNA vaccine developed by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Modern, based in Massachusetts.

As of this month, eight groups had 17 vaccines in Phase III.

The first vaccines were widely expected to start rolling out in late Q2 or early Q3 2021.

“So we hope it’s the middle of next year when we really start to see that vaccines are available,” he said.

“But [the Pfizer-BioNTech candidate] it could potentially come a little earlier. “

How does this fit in with New Zealand’s strategy?

The Government says it is complementary to other parts of our broader and recently launched vaccine strategy, such as the global Covax facility, which could meet up to 50 percent of the needs of our population.

Hundreds of millions of dollars (I won’t reveal exactly how much, for commercial reasons) were put in to get kiwis and our Pacific neighbors as high up as possible.

“A key objective of our portfolio approach is to ensure that we have flexibility and choice when it comes to securing the right vaccines for New Zealand and our Pacific neighbors,” said Woods.

A task force executing the strategy is negotiating with other drug companies and more announcements are expected next month.

Woods said “good progress” was being made on those agreements and that having additional agreements in place would ensure that there were enough vaccines for the entire country.

There have been big concerns about New Zealand’s early access.

A cabinet document recently released in August indicated that the government was concerned that New Zealand’s Covid-free status and good health could mean that it would not be prioritized if global prioritization and allocation were simply left to assessment of need. .

It recommended that New Zealand should commit “significant resources up front to help ensure access to a vaccine.”

Having a variety of advance purchase agreements would mean potential access to a variety of vaccine candidates, but that would not guarantee access to a vaccine, as “most of the candidates considered are likely not viable.”

Those advance payments would not be recoverable once paid.

Determining the cost of those advance agreements would be difficult, money must be allocated to start, the document says.

Early delivery vaccines were expected to cost between $ 75 and $ 150 per dose when later delivery could cost less than $ 15.

So who could get the vaccine first?

That call has yet to be made, but the Ministry of Health is working on what the rollout of the immunization program would look like.

“Several factors will influence who will get what vaccines and when, such as data from trials on the suitability of each vaccine for certain age groups,” said Health Minister Chris Hipkins.

“We have set aside $ 66.3 million for medical supplies and infrastructure to ensure New Zealand is ready to launch a Covid-19 immunization program as soon as we have a safe and effective vaccine.

“Most of this investment will pay for supplies sufficient to support the countries of New Zealand and Pacific Realm; supplies such as PPE, needles, syringes and swabs, and freezers to store a vaccine.”

What about local vaccine production?

That is also happening.

About $ 3 million of government funds will go to the biotech company Kiwi Biocell to improve its facilities and be able to implement 100 million doses.

Another Kiwi consortium has been exploring its own potential homemade candidates, such as an inactivated vaccine approach led by Professor Miguel Quiñones-Mateu from the University of Otago, and a recombinant spike protein vaccine that is being developed in the laboratory of the Victoria University of Dr. Davide Comoletti, during the last years. months.

And a local company has obtained $ 3.3 million in private funding to go ahead with a Covid-19 vaccine made with Kiwi technology.

The Covid-19 Vaccine Corporation (CVC), established in May, has formed collaborations with the University of Auckland, Callaghan Innovation, and the Scion research institute, in their attempt to independently develop a homegrown coronavirus agent.

The company aims to complete its first human trial of the new vaccine by the end of next year, which will cost about $ 8 million.

– Additional reports – RNZ