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SINGAPORE (REUTERS) – Singapore on Monday (December 14) became the first Asian country to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine and said it expects to start receiving doses by the end of the year.
The United States, Canada and a handful of other countries have approved the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, with a mass inoculation program also underway in Britain.
Pfizer said in November that the vaccine was 95 percent effective in preventing disease in its late large state trials.
Here’s a look at the vaccine details, the progress of the supply agreements, and possible approvals:
mRNA technology
The vaccine, called BNT162b2, is based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which uses a chemical messenger to instruct cells to produce proteins that mimic the outer surface of the new coronavirus, which the immune system learns to recognize as an invader. strange and mounts a defense against.
The mRNA is based on synthetic genes that can be generated and manufactured in weeks and produced at scale more quickly than conventional vaccines.
The new technology has not been approved for any other vaccine so far; Pfizer and BioNTech are also collaborating to develop mRNA-based flu vaccines.
The vaccine must be kept at minus 70 degrees C or below.
Dosage and estimated cost
Under the supply agreement with the United States, the price is US $ 39 (Singapore $ 52) for a two-dose course administered three weeks apart.
Pfizer has said it will not charge other developed countries a lower price for the vaccine than the United States will pay.
Duration of protection
BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin has said he is optimistic that the immunization effect of the vaccine would last for a year. Scientists do not yet know how long the effect will last.
Pending approvals
India is accelerating its review of Pfizer’s vaccine for emergency use, a senior official said on Dec. 7.
The European Medicines Agency said on Dec. 1 that if its experts have received enough data from Pfizer on the vaccine, the agency will complete its reviews by Dec. 29.
Pfizer and BioNTech submitted approval requests for their vaccine to the European drug regulator on December 1.
essays
Pfizer signed an agreement worth up to $ 750 million with BioNTech in March to jointly develop the experimental vaccine, and conducted clinical trials in April.
Testing of the vaccine began in the United States in May after testing began in Germany the previous month.
Trials continue globally at 154 locations, including Germany, Japan, Brazil, and at multiple locations within the US in participants 12 years and older. The global trials enrolled about 44,000 volunteers.
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