Covid-19: UK approves Pfizer vaccine, Russia launches campaign

Pfizer and Biontech’s Sars-Cov-2 vaccine has obtained emergency clearance in the UK and the government of that country has announced that it will start vaccinating its residents next week. They have 800,000 doses.

The announcement appears to mark the start of the global vaccination campaign, at least in the Western world. The approval of the European country is a good sign for Argentina, which has this vaccine on its menu. Pfizer has offered the national government a million doses for delivery in early 2021.

Yesterday, the American laboratory presented the documentation to authorize its dose in the country, according to the National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technologies (Anmat), which detailed that the Pfizer is added to the presentations made by HLB Pharma Group, for Sputnik V; and that of Astra Zéneca, filed under the name AZD-1222.

“Today, Pfizer appeared before the Anmat to authorize the vaccine in Argentina. This requires documentation of the studies that have been carried out. But if they succeed in England, they have the whole phase. What is being done is a faster issuance of authorizations due to the pandemic, ”said Minister of Health Ginés González García. “If he approved in the UK I am confident he comfortably has everything he needs, but I cannot anticipate it,” he added.

Asked about processing times and scientific controls, the manager explained that “the time depends on what they present. All the regulatory agencies have the same canon, the same requirements and they are tough. They did not give it to the United States when the President (Donald Trump) asked for it and it had to do with his election, ”he concluded.

The logistics of vaccines are not easy. For starters, they should be stored in ultra-cold freezers at minus 80 degrees. For the professor of immunology at UBA and researcher at Conicet, Jorge Gneffer, Argentina is able to distribute this quantity of vaccines guaranteeing ultra-cold conditions. “This is an amount that would allow the conservation and distribution of the vaccine. I would have my doubts if we were talking about millions of units because this vaccine involves a higher cost than the others, which could be stored at a temperature that oscillates between 4 and 20 degrees below zero, which is a substantial difference “, did he declare.

Another announcement made yesterday with repercussions in Argentina is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the health authorities in that country to start the vaccination campaign as early as next week. They would already have two million doses of Sputnik V to apply to health workers and teachers.

The Russian vaccination is the one that would have the best chance of reaching Argentina before the end of the year. The national government announced that 10 million doses were expected.

It must be remembered that Sputnik V was authorized by Russia in August and presented it yesterday to the World Health Organization (WHO). The Putin government also authorized the Bektop vaccine in October.

At the same time, the Chinese projects CanSino, Sinovac and Sinopharm also received authorizations between July and August. The United Arab Emirates also approved the latter in September.

The difference is that all of them were cleared before at least partial results from the phase 3 trials were known, which determine the effectiveness of a vaccination. This decision has been criticized by experts.

However, these countries did not apply it to the general population, but to limited sectors such as the military, health workers and diplomats who traveled outside their countries.

The UK decision was taken based on partial data from Phase 3, so this is an emergency approval. It should be remembered that Pfizer-Biontech has reported that its vaccine is 95% effective, although it has yet to release the supporting scientific literature.

The challenge of conservation. The Pfizer and Biontech vaccine requires storage at -70 ° C (with a margin of 10 ° C more or less). Once thawed, the dose can be stored for up to five days under refrigeration conditions at 2-8 ° C.

They promise to produce billions of doses in 2021

Executives at some of the major pharmaceutical companies developing coronavirus vaccines have assured that their companies will be able to produce billions of doses next year, if the good results of their clinical trials are confirmed and if they get the government approvals.

During a meeting sponsored by the World Economic Forum, organizer of the traditional winter leaders’ forums in Davos (Switzerland), the CEO of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, assured that his signature will include around 20 million doses before the end of the year, but in 2021 they could reach 1 billion.

“We keep being a small company, with a thousand people,” recalled the manager of Moderna, whose vaccine has shown 94.5% effectiveness in the last phase of clinical trials, according to the Efe news agency.

Bancel recalled that his company had already requested approval to produce in markets such as the United States, the European Union or Switzerland, as well as the World Health Organization, and is awaiting decisions in this regard on December 17 from the authorities. Americans and January 12 in Europe.

The Moderna official assured that after the approvals, vaccinations could start in just 24 hours, and recalled that the vaccine developed by his company has distribution and storage advantages, since it can be stored for up to 30 days at 2 degrees in a normal refrigerator.