According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 150 Covid-19 vaccines are presently in development, with around 44 candidates in clinical trials and 11 undergoing late-stage testing.
Last week, Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said their experimental vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19 based on initial data from its Phase III trials. The encouraging results has prompted US infectious-disease experts to say that the country may begin offering the vaccine to priority groups at the end of December.
Here is a status check of top two Covid-19 vaccine frontrunners:
*Moderna coronavirus vaccine
After Pfizer, another US drugmaker, Moderna Inc, said its mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate provides strong protection according to preliminary data from the company’s late-stage trials and its experimental vaccine appears to be 94.5 per cent effective — more than that of Pfizer’s and Russia’s Sputnik V.
Moderna has announced that it would seek emergency-use authorization for its vaccine candidate in high-risk groups. The firm is eyeing to produce 20 million doses of its experimental vaccine by the end of the year.
*AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccine
In encouraging news for India, Serum Institute of India, which is conducting Phase 2/3 trials of the Oxford University vaccine (dubbed Covishield in India, said it was aiming to produce 100 million doses by December.
Serum Institute might get emergency-use authorization by December if late-stage trial data showed that the vaccine candidate provided effective protection from the virus.
The ChAdOx1 vaccine (also christened AZD1222 and Covishield in India) is made from a weakened version of a common cold adenovirus that causes infections in chimpanzees.
Source: INDIAN EXPRESS
