Vaccines usually take years of study and testing before reaching the clinic. But scientists are competing to develop a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine by next year. Researchers are testing 58 vaccines in human clinical trials and at least 86 pre-clinical vaccines are under active study in humans. Because the COVID-19 pandemic drags on and every nation sees an alarming winter surge in cases, coronavirus vaccinations give us hope of regaining some relation to normal life next year.
Research began in January with the deciphering of the SARS-CoV-2 genome. The first safety tests of vaccines in humans began in March, and 14 have now entered the final research stage. Some of these trials may fail, and others will end without a clear outcome. But a few vaccines may activate the immune system to produce strong antibodies to the virus.
Here’s a breakdown on what to expect in the coming weeks and which groups are expected to be vaccinated first.
1. Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine
VACCINE NAME: BNT162b2
PHASE: 3
Approval: In Canada and EMERGENCY APPROVAL IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES
EFFICACY: 95%
DOSE: 2 doses, 3 weeks apart
TYPE: Muscle injection
STORAGE: Freezer storage only at –94° F (–70° C)
On November 9, Pfizer, in New York, and BioNTech, a German firm, for the very first-time presented preliminary results showing that their COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90% successful. Because it was the first time that anybody had found evidence of this kind. Moderna reported similar results for a similar vaccine a week later.
BioNTech researchers started developing the COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA ) in January. They joined with Pfizer in March to scale up the research and initiated a clinical trial in May. They found that the vaccine-induced volunteers to produce SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. It also produced immune cells called T cells that respond to the virus. On July 27, the companies announced the start of a Phase 2/3 trial of 30,000 volunteers in the United States and other nations, including Argentina, Brazil, and Germany. Then on September 12, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they would aim to expand their U.S. trial to 44,000 people.
On December 2, the United Kingdom became the first nation in the world to authorize Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use.
Finally, on December 8, 90-year-old Margaret Keenan became the first woman to undergo a vaccine at the University Hospital in Coventry, with a further 800,000 doses expected in the coming weeks.
The European Union has decided to buy 200 million doses. If their vaccine is successful, Pfizer and BioNTech plan to deliver more than 1.3 billion doses of their vaccine worldwide by the end of 2021.
2. CanSino Biologics Vaccine
This vaccine has approval in china but with restriction.
VACCINE NAME: Ad5-nCoV
PHASE:3
EFFICACY: Unknown
DOSE: Single-dose
TYPE: Muscle injection
STORAGE: Refrigerated
The Chinese company CanSino Biologics has developed an adenovirus-based vaccine named Ad5, in collaboration with the Institute of Biology at the National Academy of Military Medical Sciences. As a result, in May, promising results from the Phase 1 safety analysis were released. Hence in July, they announced that their Phase 2 trials showed that the vaccine produced a strong immune response. On June 25, the Chinese Army approved the vaccine as an “especially needed drug” for a year in an unexpected development. CanSino would not say whether vaccination would be compulsory or optional for soldiers. As a result, starting in August, CanSino began phase 3 trials in several nations, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Russia.
3. Gamaleya Vaccine
This vaccine has approval in Russia.
VACCINE NAME: Sputnik 5 (formerly Gam-Covid-Vac)
PHASE:3
EFFICACY: 92%
DOSE: 2 doses, 3 weeks apart
TYPE: Muscle injection
STORAGE: Freezer storage
The Gamaleya Research Institute, part of the Russian Ministry of Health, has developed a vaccine based on two adenoviruses. Preliminary results reported in November suggest that the vaccine has a high effectiveness rate in Phase 3 trials.
Gamaleya developed a vaccine, initially known as Gam-Covid-Vac, from adenoviruses named Ad5 and Ad26. Over the years, both forms have been studied as vaccines. By bringing them together, Russian researchers hoped to prevent a condition in which the immune system might learn to recognize the vaccine as a foreign entity required to be destroyed.
4. EpiVacCorona Vaccine (Early Approval In Russia)
On August 26, a Phase 1/2 trial for the COVID-19 vaccine called EpiVacCorona was conducted by the Vector Institute, a Russian Biological Research Centre. The vaccine includes small portions of viral protein known as peptides. According to newspaper reports, the EpiVacCorona experiments were still ongoing by then. On October 14, Vladimir Putin declared that Russia had given regulatory approval to EpiVacCorona. As a result, this makes it the second vaccine to be identified after the Gamaleya Institute Sputnik V vaccine. As the Sputnik vaccine, EpiVacCorona was approved before the Phase 3 trial to show that it was safe and effective. The trial is expected to start later this year.
5. Oxford’ vaccine
Recently, The Lancet published the results of phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the so-called Oxford vaccine of AstraZeneca. The research included people from the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa. Overall, the findings show that in 70 percent of cases, the vaccine candidate protects against symptomatic infection.
70% of efficacy is lower than that of some of the other vaccine candidates. But the researchers observed that when participants received half a dose followed by a maximum dose, the vaccine was 90% effective. However, the researchers gave this regimen only to a relatively small number of —1,367 participants—and no one in this group was over 55.
When participants got two full doses, the vaccine was 62% successful.
The results of phase 3 also indicate that the Oxford vaccine has a good safety profile. Severe adverse effects occurred in 168 participants. Of these, three cases may have been due to vaccines. There was one in the experimental group, one in the control group. The third participant is in a category that has not been blinded. All three have now recovered or are healing.
6. Moderna vaccine
It is asking for the approval in the USA and Europe of a candidate for the COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA).
Moderna announced the completion of the key efficacy analysis of its Phase 3 clinical trial. The vaccine candidate is 94.1 percent effective against COVID-19 and 100 percent effective against serious COVID-19.
Moderna points out in a press release that 196 people enrolled in their 30,000-participating experiment have already had COVID-19. Of these, 11 were in the group that got the vaccine.
There were 30 cases of severe COVID-19, all of them in the placebo group. There was one person in this group who died.
In the study, 196 cases of COVID-19 occurred among different people, including older adults and small ethnic groups.
The company stressed that the results of the report would be sent to the peer-reviewed journal.
