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AstraZeneca vaccine produced by IBS in India known as COVISHIELD – Photo: REUTERS
According to Reuters, the two approved vaccines are currently being produced at the Indian Serum Institute (SII) and SKBio of South Korea. So far, the WHO has only approved the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.
During a morning press conference on February 16 (Vietnam time), WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged COVID-19 vaccine companies to continue submitting requests to WHO at the same time as countries. rich to fight the price of the security level.
“The conditions are in place for the rapid delivery of vaccines, but we need to further accelerate production,” said the WHO chief.
Earlier, a WHO panel made interim vaccine recommendations, noting that AstraZeneca’s vaccine could be used in countries with a South African variant of the corona virus.
WHO Assistant Director-General Dr. Mariangela Simao said that the inclusion of AstraZeneca’s vaccine on the emergency use list would pave the way for its vaccination in poor countries. The WHO evaluation showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine meets the “must have” criteria for safety, the benefits and efficacy also outweighing the potential risks.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine is being hailed as a “vaccine for the world” because it is cheaper and easier to distribute than some of its competitors, including the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, which was included in the WHO emergency list late. December of last year.
According to Reuters, it is not surprising that the AstraZeneca vaccine accounts for a large proportion of the vaccines distributed by WHO to low-income countries through the COVAX mechanism.
In a February 15 statement, AstraZeneca said it will distribute around 330 million doses of the vaccine to 145 countries by the end of March through COVAX. In Asia, countries about to receive the COVAX vaccine include Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and some other countries such as North and South Korea.
