UK proposes to create vaccines against COVID-19 and new diseases in 100 days

Amid the pandemic by the novel coronavirus, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson today exposes its ambition to reduce the development time of new vaccines by two-thirds, so that it is now 100 days, at the first G7 leaders’ meeting with the UK assuming the presidency.

The Prime Minister asked Sir Patrick Vallance, senior scientific adviser to the UK government, who works with international allies including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI), as well as with scientific and industry experts in order to advise G7 members on how to speed up the process of developing vaccines, treatments and tests for common pathogens.

“Perhaps today more than ever the hopes of the world rest on the shoulders of scientists and over the past year, as on countless occasions before, they rose to the challenge, ”Johnson said. He added: “The development of viable coronavirus vaccines offers the tantalizing prospect of a return to normalcy, but we must not rest on our laurels. As leaders of the G7 today, we must say: never again ”.

Developing a vaccine for the coronavirus in about 300 days has been a huge and unprecedented global achievement. By further reducing the development time for new vaccines against emerging diseases, we may be able to prevent the catastrophic health, economic and social repercussions of this crisis. The 100-day target was proposed by CEPI earlier this year.

By collaborating internationally to scale up research and development, modernize medical trials, and create more innovative vaccine supply and manufacturing chains, we can save lives in future health crises and prevent the next pandemic.

Johnson has also confirmed that the UK will share the majority of future surplus coronavirus vaccines from its supply with COVAX’s supply group to support developing countries, in addition to funding of £ 548million for the program.

“By harnessing our collective creativity, we can ensure that we have the vaccines, treatments and tests necessary to be ready for the battle against future health threats as we defeat Covid-19 and build back better together.” In addition, he urged G7 leaders to increase their funding for COVAX to support equitable access to vaccines.

Meet the goals of the Premier’s five-point plan to prevent future pandemics, first presented at the UN last year, will be a key theme of Britain’s G7 presidency this year. Boris Johnson also called on G7 leaders to support a pandemic preparedness treaty through the WHO.

Today’s meeting was the first hosted by the Prime Minister under Britain’s G7 presidency this year and the first meeting of G7 leaders since April 2020. At the meeting, Leaders confirmed their support for the UK’s health priorities as G7 chairman and discussed broader efforts to address global challenges and ensuring a sustainable economic and ecological recovery from the coronavirus, as well as a number of foreign policy issues.

Britain records fifth official COVID-19 toll worldwide. It has more than 4 million people infected and nearly 120,000 dead. Despite a series of setbacks in its response to the pandemic, the Johnson government has moved much faster than most Western countries to secure the vaccine supply, which has given it an advantage.

Currently, the UK has administered a first dose of vaccine to 15.58 million people, or 23% of its 67 million population, behind only Israel and the United Arab Emirates in terms of vaccines per capita.

New vaccines against COVID-19

Human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine combining a British injection of AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford with the Sputnik V vaccine of Russia started a few days ago in Azerbaijan and some countries in the Middle East.

AstraZeneca He said in December he would start clinical trials to test the combination of the two vaccines to see if it could increase the effectiveness of the British injection. Both vaccines involve two doses, an initial injection and a booster, Yes use harmless adenoviruses as vehicles or vectors to transmit genetic instructions to the body that allow cells to make antibodies. However, Sputnik uses different viral vectors for his two injections.

A two-dose regimen of Sputnik V had a 91.6% efficiency against symptomatic COVID-19, based on results from an advanced peer-reviewed trial published in the international medical journal The Lancet.

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