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A fourth request for authorization for a Covid-19 vaccine has been submitted to Swissmedic. The answers to that.
What are the properties of the vaccine? Like previously known corona vaccines, that of the German company Janssen-Cilag is also based on the spike protein of the virus. Therefore, the vaccine stimulates the body’s own immune response against the protein. The virus needs the beak to enter human cells. The vaccine is based on a weakened, harmless cold virus into which the gene for this spike has been inserted.
Do you already know similar vaccines? Janssen-Cilag, whose parent company is Johnson & Johnson, has already developed an Ebola vaccine using the same procedure. The corona vaccine could now have a huge advantage over competing vaccines: one dose of vaccine may be enough to be well protected against Covid-19. All vaccines known to date must be administered twice, with an interval of a few weeks.
Why do you only need one vaccine? This is difficult to say because the effectiveness of a vaccine depends on many factors. Here it has been discovered that a single dose of vaccine triggers a strong reaction in the body. However, Janssen-Cilag has now started a second study in which two doses of vaccine are administered. It is possible that a vaccination dose is calculated too short. However, the company has not released any details.
And the efficiency? The company has yet to release any data from the relevant large clinical studies, but the first information will likely arrive before the end of the year. This probably has to do with the fact that the Janssen-Cilag study started a little later than that of Moderna, Pfizer-Biontech and AstraSeneca.
Is the vaccine produced in Switzerland? Janssen-Cilag has two production plants in Switzerland, one in Bern and one in Schaffhausen. Whether the vaccine will be produced, there is only speculation. In fact, the company has a vaccine factory in Bern, the former Bern Biotech.
Are more vaccine requests being sent to Swissmedic? Almost 100 vaccines are being clinically tested around the world. Anyone who wants to use it in the Swiss market needs approval from Swissmedic. Therefore, more vaccines will surely be sent for review. Whether they are actually available one day also depends on whether vaccination doses are still needed in Switzerland. However, one of these vaccines might also work particularly well in older people, for example. Then Swissmedic would certainly check the app.
