Is COVID-19 Vaccine Ready?

Originally Posted on SeedBx

COVID-19 has impacted the world like no other disease has in the past century. This pandemic which is still surging and rather soaring has affected 15.7 million people of which sadly 640K people have succumbed to the disease (as of 25/07/2020).

In this period of sad times, most of our hopes have been pinned on the development of vaccine to eradicate the virus and most importantly make things normal once again.

Here is a list of all major candidate vaccine that may, in the near future, be successfully made and deployed.

Sinovac Developed Vaccine

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is a biopharmaceutical company based in Beijing, China. The candidate vaccine made by Sinovac is currently in Phase III stage of clinical evaluation. The Phase III human trials, conducted in Brazil, are being sponsored by Instituto Butantan to test efficacy and safety of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine. The human trials are also being conducted in China. The vaccine has also been approved for trials in Bangladesh. The Phase I/ II trials showed promising results with no serious adverse effects noted in any of the 743 volunteers in the trial.

Oxford COVID Vaccine

University of Oxford, U.K. along with Swedish DrugmakerAstraZeneca Plc, is developing a vaccine for COVID-19. The candidate vaccine made by Oxford-AstraZeneca is currently in Phase III stage of clinical evaluation. The Phase III human trials are being conducted in Brazil and the human trials are completely sponsored by Brazilian entrepreneurs. The vaccine is also currently in clinical trial in U.K. and South Africa. Pune-based Serum Institute of India has also sought permission to begin Phase I/III clinical trials in India. The Phase I/ II trials showed promising results with no serious adverse effects noted in any of the 1,077 participants in the trial.

Sinopharm Developed Vaccine

Sinopharm Group Co. Ltd. is a Chinese pharmaceutical company. Sinopharm’s unit China National Biotec Group is developing two coronavirus vaccines. The vaccines are currently in Phase III stage of clinical evaluation. The Phase III human trials are being conducted in United Arab Emirates. The trials are also being conducted in China. The Phase I/ II trials showed promising results with high generation of antibodies in the participants and no serious adverse effects noted in any of the 1,120 volunteers in the trial.

 

Conclusion

The results of various vaccines have been very impressive till now. The Chinese pharmaceutical companies have even gone to claim that their vaccines may be out by the end of 2020. We can just hope to see these vaccines being deployed successfully so that we can live a normal life once again.

There are still more vaccines being developed which are currently in Phase I/II. For further information visit Draft Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccine.

 

References

https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines

http://www.sinovac.com/?optionid=754&auto_id=907

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31604-4/fulltext

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1192598.shtml