COVID-19 vaccine development pipeline gears up

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18 January 2021
Coronavirus: When will the doses that the Government already has agreed upon arrive in the country and what the vaccination plan is like....
The national government hopes to vaccinate 25 million people over 18 years of age throughout 2021, which represents 85% of the population that falls within that age group. To carry out this operation in the Casa Rosada hopes to have 51,431,000 doses before the end of July. Based on those numbers, it is the number of vaccinated that they estimate. The information is contained in a paper that Alberto Fernández has in his possession and which was made by his advisers....

....The Government has open parallel negotiations with five different laboratories: Pfizer, Janssen, Butantan / Sinovac Biotecj, Sinopharm and Moderna. The three that are closed are with AstraZeneca, for 22,431,000 doses, with Gamaleya (Russia) for 20,000,000 doses and with the COVAX fund for 9,000,000 doses. In Balcarce 50 they hope to advance in the negotiations to secure more vaccines in the short term....
....The President's delivery schedule includes 5,000,000 Sputnik V for January and 14,700,000 for February. Added to the 300,000 thousand that were delivered in December, they are a total of 20,000,000. Those from AstraZeneca will begin to arrive in the country in March and every following month, until July, there will be a new container. 1,191,000 doses will arrive in March, 4,635,500 in April, 4,635,500 in May, 3,451,000 in June and 8,518,000 in July. The total is 22,431,000. That is the stipulated schedule.

Finally there are those that come from the COVAX fund, which number 9,000,000, which should arrive in stages between February and July. The global initiative expects to distribute about 2 billion doses to 92 low- and middle-income countries at a maximum cost of $ 3 per dose. Argentina is included in the project and will receive them from different laboratories. The total dose that the Government has insured between January and July is 51,431,000.

There are seven risk groups that are defined in the document published by the Casa Rosada: health personnel; adults over 70 years of age and elderly people residing in nursing homes; adults between 60 and 69 years; the Armed Forces, Security and Penitentiary Services Personnel; Adults ages 18 to 59 who have pre-existing illnesses; the teaching and non-teaching staff that work in schools (initial, primary and secondary level) and strategic populations that will be defined by each of the provinces.

The prioritized groups are made up of 14,429,299 people. The goal is to vaccinate them before the end of March. There are 821,394 health workers, 7,414,866 people who are over 60 years of age - 167,936 live in 5,173 nursing homes distributed throughout the country - 493,727 members of the Armed Forces and Security Forces; 4,063,968 people between 18 and 59 years old with comorbidities; 1,417,310 who are part of the educational personnel and 266,034 essential, including state personnel, university teachers and other groups of people who are part of the priority list during the quarantine.
The document also details the vaccination operation set up by the Government and which was activated on December 29, 2020. There are 116,000 people who make up the vaccination teams: 36,000 vaccinators and 80,000 people who are part of the support team. While the start of the vaccination plan is being developed, the Government manages the expansion of the teams to multiply the operational capacity when there are more vaccines.

The action plan is being carried out in 7,749 health establishments: 56 institutions with high-tech systems for ultra-cold storage; 1873 establishments conditioned so that the vaccine is at -18 ° C and another 5,715 conditioned for vaccines that are kept between 1 and 8 ° C.

Vaccination will not take place only in Hospitals. In the document that the President has, it is stated that the action plan provides that health workers are the only ones to be vaccinated only in health centers. Adults over 60 and those between 18 and 59 with risk factors will do so in health centers, but also in schools and sports centers. Meanwhile, nursing home residents and workers, and elderly or chronic patients with motor limitations, will be vaccinated in homes or closed institutions.

In the case of people who are vaccinated in health centers, the mechanism to identify and summon them will be through scheduled shifts, dissemination through local media, call by DNI and the register with nominalized information. In schools and sports centers the same methods will be followed, but the use of the electoral roll will be included. In the case of private homes and nursing homes, a specific survey will be carried out.

According to the data that the Government has, the only vaccine that will be applied in Argentina until March will be Sputnik V. With these 20 million doses, it will not be possible to vaccinate all risk groups, which are 14.5 million people. That is why at the Casa Rosada they try to advance in the negotiations with the laboratories. Unless the vaccines from the COVAX fund arrive, and based on the terms stipulated in the agreements that are closed, the risk groups will all be vaccinated only in April.
 
19 January 2021
The Government considers that there is scientific evidence to apply the Russian vaccine to those over 60 years of age and awaits the recommendation of ANMAT. The Russian Fund for Direct Investment sent to the Ministry of Health a technical study that ensures that Sputnik V can be used in this group of patients. risk that suffers the highest number of infections and deaths caused by COVID-19....The Russian Fund for Direct Investment sent from Moscow to the Casa Rosada and the Ministry of Health that voluminous dossier that maintains that Sputnik V is effective. And since Saturday a team of translators has accelerated the march to allow ANMAT to read the scientific bases of the Gamaleya Institute that would enable the application of the vaccine to 7,414,866 older adults who make up the main risk group in Argentina....

....When the ANMAT complies with the formalities of its legal status, and the Ministry of Health issues its official report ensuring that Sputnik V can be applied without inconvenience to those over 60 years of age, Alberto Fernández and Ginés González will face the television cameras and they will put on their best smile when they receive the prick of the first dose of the Russian vaccine....
....The government has not yet decided to publish the full scientific report that would support the application of the Russian vaccine to those over 60 years of age. And in the face of this political debate behind closed doors, the community of experts that advises the President proposed the full publication of the dossier to avoid a public trial in the media and social networks that affects the majority decision of adults over 60 years of age.

It is a dissemination strategy that attempts to block a possible sequence against the massive application of Sputnik V. If the Gamaleya institute report is recommended by ANMAT and approved by the Health Ministry, but without the dossier that justifies its health efficacy, it could happen that thousands of eventual elderly patients decide to wait for the arrival of another vaccine when the second wave of COVID-19 has already started.
The doses of Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm will only have a massive landing by mid-March, and the only thing that would be on hand - if Putin lives up to his political promise - would be 10 million Sputnik V by the end of February.

In this context, the Government would face the strange paradox of administering a voluminous stock of vaccines that few would use in the face of mistrust caused by the eventual political decision to deny public opinion the scientific arguments that would support the effectiveness of Sputnik V in the group. risk of people over 60 years.

The decision belongs to Balcarce 50. And it is unlikely that Alberto Fernández will convince the undecided by smiling when he receives the first dose of the Russian vaccine, if there is no official publication of the secret dossier that came from the Kremlin to the Executive Branch. That photo of the President will go around the world, but it would not be enough to seduce the remiss who demand scientific evidence before using a vaccine that has not yet been approved in the United States, Europe and most countries in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. East.
 
19 January 2021
Ginés González García will receive deputies to report on COVID-19 vaccines, but Juntos por el Cambio dropped out of the meeting and demanded that he go to Congress. The main opposition demands the Minister of Health give reports in a public hearing and not behind closed doors. The official would go to Parliament in the next few days....

The Minister of Health, Ginés González García, will receive this afternoon beginning at 3:00 p.m. to the national deputies that make up the Social Action and Health Commission in his office. From Juntos por el Cambio decided not to attend and continue to demand his presence in the National Congress to provide them with information on vaccines against COVID 19 and the negotiations for mass purchase....

....Just yesterday Mario Negri, president of the opposition interblock, said: “Minister Ginés González García must attend the Deputies. "No tiene coronita". In April it was the only time he attended the lower house to report on the pandemic. We presented more than 40 requests for reports, summons to Congress, requests for interpellation and impeachment ”. From Córdoba the UCR also added that “there are no more excuses. After the confusion and uncertainty created all this time with vaccines, what corresponds is that the minister attends Parliament and not that Parliament go to his office. Why is he hiding if he has nothing to hide? "....At the end of last year, Alfredo Cornejo, as president of the UCR and national deputy, requested information from the Ministry of Health on vaccines while Elisa Carrió filed a criminal complaint against those who intervened in the process of purchasing Sputnik V, which marks an internal difference within the main opposition....
 
interesting, following Gracielle's post. It looks like the President and the Minister of Health follow the old tailor's rule "Measure twice, cut once". The general impression has been that the safety issue was all ready settled / accepted for 60 year olds and higher. Until now when the Gemeylan has sent more documentation. Pray that ANMAT can approve it.
El Gobierno considera que hay evidencia científica para aplicar la vacuna rusa a mayores de 60 años y aguarda la recomendación de la ANMAT
El Fondo Ruso de Inversión Directa envió al Ministerio de Salud un estudio técnico que asegura que la Sputnik V se puede usar en ese grupo de riesgo que sufre la mayor cantidad de contagios y muertes causados por el COVID-19
www.infobae.com
www.infobae.com
19 January 2021
The Government considers that there is scientific evidence to apply the Russian vaccine to those over 60 years of age and awaits the recommendation of ANMAT.
 
Russia claims its second vaccine, EpiVacCorona, is 100% effective and is being put into effect.
Also there is a 3rd vaccine in their pipeline to be approved in coming days
Additional data:
 
 
20 January 2021
The operation to bring them starts this Thursday. Another 5 million Sputnik V vaccines begin to arrive in Argentina.

Aerolineas Argentinas will prepare three planes to bring the first million between January 21 and 24. The idea is to make trips to transport that amount every seven days. AstraZeneca could also bring forward the delivery of its vaccines to Argentina, originally scheduled for the end of March....

....The idea in the Ministry of Health is to bring the doses in batches of a million vaccines to avoid huge storage in containers in the country. At the same time, six million doses of the active element of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have already left for Mexico, produced by the mAbxience laboratory in Garín. However, a serious US restriction endangered the packaging, but in the last hours the Mexican foreign minister intervened and everything will be done according to plan. There is some chance that doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca will be advanced to Argentina due to the delay in the authorization of the vaccine in Europe.


Russia

What was signed with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (FRID) is the provision of four million for dose 1 and one million for dose 2 before the end of January. The Argentine government received notification that the vaccines are available and the necessary operation to bring them is underway. It is mentioned that Aerolineas will configure the planes to bring about 400,000 doses per flight and, in that case, three flights will be needed to bring the first million. The idea is for the operation to take place between January 21 and 24.

As it has been with the coronavirus from day one, nothing resembles a quiet parade down a red carpet. There will be comings and goings, problems and obstacles, but the Executive Branch maintains that so far the plan is being met: the first 300,000 doses 1 and 2, and now the provision of the five million signed, in batches of one million every seven days or so.


Dose

The idea of the Casa Rosada and the Ministry of Health is to bring around a million doses every week with a double objective:
● Do not cause enormous storage in containers in Argentina, which also require a suitable temperature: -18 degrees.
● Maintain an uninterrupted vaccination rhythm. The gaps complicate because the pace of health personnel is not kept up but, in addition, they cause anguish and complaints from those who are waiting to be vaccinated.

In general, throughout the world, the vaccination process takes time to start and pick up pace, but then it goes well. This is what happened in the United States and Europe, although in this last continent there are lags due to Pfizer that is reforming its plant in Belgium and has delays in delivery of up to 30 days. But once it gets underway, the vaccination is running smoothly. In Argentina, which has a long tradition of the State vaccinating millions of people, it is assumed that there will be no major obstacles.


Origins
After four million of dose 1 and one million of dose 2, which will be the most immediate delivery, the supply of six million more for dose 1 and nine million for dose 2 is signed, this would complete 10 million of both doses. To this is added that the Government has already signed the option for an additional five million to be delivered in March.

As to what they say from Moscow, the February doses will arrive from India, where the Gamaleya Institute is already doing quality tests of the production. In Russia, a gigantic plant is also being developed that will multiply the number of vaccines available, although the great part will be for the Russian citizens themselves.

On this side of the planet, Alberto Fernández served as a bridge for the signing of the Bolivian contract for five million vaccines and also with Mexico, a country to which 12 million doses of Sputnik V will be supplied. Likewise, there was an intervention, through Pepe Mujica with the Uruguayan government, but President Lacalle Pou has objections to administering the Russian vaccine.


Authorization
In the Ministry of Health they say that the authorization of the ANMAT to apply Sputnik V to people over 60 is imminent. The documentation of the Russian studies took a long time to come and, according to what they say, 300 pages finally arrived referring to the tests with 3,000 people over the age of 60. The fundamental difficulty now is in the translation from Russian to English, but everything indicates that there will be no problems for the final approval by next week.

Battles

The mAbxcience laboratory, owned by Hugo Sigman, delivered six million doses of the active element of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday. The boarding left this Tuesday on the Aeroméxico flight....Everything indicates that the expected deadlines will then be met and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be available at the end of March throughout Latin America. 22 million doses are planned to arrive in Argentina.

....A possible good news in the last hours: there could be a dose advance for Argentina. AstraZeneca has made it known that it could provide vaccines originating from Europe's slowness to approve their use. In other words, vaccines manufactured to supply Europe would be derived to Argentina since our country already has the approval of the ANMAT for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. It is not clear if the vaccines will come directly or if they will be part of the items purchased - nine million vaccines acquired by Argentina - from the Global Access Fund for Vaccines (Covax) of the World Health Organization.
 
20 January 2021
Mutations or changes in the genetic code of viruses are to be expected, and SARS-CoV-2 is no exception. In fact, there have already been thousands of transformations in its short history. But sometimes, these mutations raise some alarms in the scientific community and are looked at more closely. At the beginning of December 2020, a significant number of cases of a new variant of the virus, called VOC-202012, also known by the name of the lineage to which it belongs, was identified in Great Britain: B.1.1.7. This version presents a series of modifications in its genetic code that makes it more transmissible than the original virus. Currently, it is the dominant variant in London and has already been reported in more than 50 countries around the world, including Brazil, Chile and, since last Saturday, also Argentina.

COUNTRIES WITH REPORTS OF B.1.1....
 
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