COVID-19 vaccine development pipeline gears up

[FrankPintor]

Alberto Fernández no acepta el precio de la vacuna china y aguarda un gesto de Xi Jinping para cerrar el acuerdo

A pocas horas de la firma del contrato con Sinopharm, la negociación se empantanó por las exigencias del régimen comunista respecto al valor de las dosis, la cantidad final prevista en el contrato comercial y la secuencia de pagos antes del envío desde Beijing a Buenos Aires

www.infobae.com

Twice as expensive and only a little more than half as effective as the Russian vaccine. Ouch...

 

[antipodean]

Twice as expensive and only a little more than half as effective as the Russian vaccine. Ouch...

This one is Sinopharm, not Sinovac?

Yet Argentine taxpayers like myself hear vaccines are “too expensive” but see the government going ahead with a refurbishment of a retired presidential jet which easily costs the difference in question, plus operating expenses running into tens of thousands of dollars per hour because Albie and friends can’t bare to fly commercial on their state owned airline for a fraction of the cost. The show of pomp and power must come before the health of a nation.

 

[gracielle]

Sputnik-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trials to start in Azerbaijan, MidEast

Human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine combining a British shot from AstraZeneca and Oxford University with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine will begin next week in Azerbaijan and some Middle Eastern nations, a Russian official said on Thursday.

www.reuters.com

 

[gracielle]

Covid- 19 | La inmunidad colectiva de los países del G7 llegará en años, no en meses

Así lo señaló el gráfico que publicó el Rastreador de vacunas contra el Covid-19 que realiza Bloomberg.

www.perfil.com

4 February 2021....by John Fraher and Drew Armstrong
Covid- 19 | The herd immunity of the G7 countries will come in years, not months.
Anthony Fauci, the leading expert authority on infectious diseases in the United States, noted that vaccinating between 70% and 85% of the American population would allow a return to normalcy.

On a global scale, where the average daily vaccinations is close to 4.25 million, that's a daunting target.

At this rate, it will take 7.4 years to cover 75% of the population with a two-dose vaccine, according to Bloomberg's Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker. The news is better for some G7 countries: the UK and the US will need seven and nine months, respectively, to achieve this. Canada, however, would take nearly a decade with current vaccination rates.

 

[gracielle]

Confirmó el Gobierno 1,1 millones de dosis extra de la vacuna de AstraZeneca

Confirmó el Gobierno 1,1 millones de dosis extra de la vacuna de AstraZeneca

www.lanacion.com.ar

4 February 2021....by Maia Jastreblansky and Fabiola Czubaj
Government confirmed 1.1 million extra doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Government confirmed that Argentina will receive an "extra" batch of 580,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine during what is left of this month. A shipment that, if the announcement is fulfilled, will serve as a "lifesaver" for Alberto Fernández. After the delays that Russia exhibited in January, the President is racing against time to avoid new holes in the vaccination plan.

In the last hours, AstraZeneca offered the Government an anticipated lot of additionally 1,160,000 doses between February and March, arguing that Argentina was one of the first countries to authorize the product after the UK regulatory authority, which is the country of origin.

"The announcement of these vaccines from the Serum Institute of India is important because it is outside of what was already agreed with AstraZeneca. This shipment consists of 580,000 in February and another 580,000 in March and they are added to those that we already had in mind", Arnaldo Medina, Secretary of Health Quality of the Ministry of Health, said in radio statements.

Those more than 1.1 million would be added to the 22.4 million doses agreed by contract last year and outside the quota assigned by the international Covax Initiative, which the World Health Organization (WHO) anticipated yesterday. that the country has assigned 2.2 million of the same product for this first semester.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has a disparate application around the world. Despite the fact that, at the end of January, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved its use for people over 18 years of age, several European countries are giving up on applying it to people over 65. With what recommendation, then, would it apply in Argentina?

....the Secretary for Access to Health, Carla Vizzotti, added during the virtual presentation before legislators: "There are some countries that are preferring the AstraZeneca vaccine for persons under 65 and those are decisions of each country. We have our National Immunization Commission (CoNaIn) that is analyzing this situation and we continue to receive the information. But all vaccines are safe and effective, they all meet the WHO minimum requirement of 50% efficacy and help prevent mortality. "....Meanwhile, CoNaIn has not yet evaluated the use of this product in older adults, according to LA NACION....

....For now, the list of countries that have chosen not to vaccinate those 65 and over with this vaccine until they have more information on its efficacy and safety are France, Germany, Poland, Austria, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands. These days, Spain could join. The EMA approved its use last month for persons over 18, but the regulatory authorities of those countries preferred to recommend it for the population up to 64 years of age and hope to have additional data to include the elderly group.

 

[antipodean]

Al igual que Chile y Uruguay, Perú firmó un acuerdo con Pfizer para comprar 20 millones de vacunas

A diferencia de la Argentina, otros países de la región firmaron contratos para la adquisición de dosis elaboradas por el laboratorio norteamericano

www.infobae.com

"Like Chile and Uruguay, Peru signed an agreement with Pfizer to buy 20 million vaccines
Unlike Argentina, other countries in the region signed contracts for the acquisition of doses prepared by the North American laboratory"

 

[FrankPintor]

This one is Sinopharm, not Sinovac?

Yet Argentine taxpayers like myself hear vaccines are “too expensive” but see the government going ahead with a refurbishment of a retired presidential jet which easily costs the difference in question, plus operating expenses running into tens of thousands of dollars per hour because Albie and friends can’t bare to fly commercial on their state owned airline for a fraction of the cost. The show of pomp and power must come before the health of a nation.

Sorry, you're right, it's the Sinopharm / Vero vaccine. From https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-how-effective-are-the-chinese-vaccines/a-56370802:

"So far, Vero is the only Chinese vaccine for which the manufacturer has published official data. On December 29, 2020, Sinopharm reported 79% efficacy in an interim evaluation. The vaccine was licensed in China one day later.
Data from other countries does not present a consistent picture — the Emirates confirmed even higher efficacy in their study: 86%.
The authorities there were even quicker to approve the vaccine than the Chinese. The vaccine was allowed to be administered from the beginning of December. Serbia also approved the vaccine in January.
Things were less promising in Peru. Authorities there halted clinical trials in December after one patient suffered paralysis in his arms as a result of vaccination."

Sounds promising, if a bit rushed, though it's all a mad scramble anyway, but twice the price of the Russian vaccine? I don't know about your cost comparison between jets and vaccines, do you have any references to check out?

 

[Somewhereinba]

Paralysis in his arm lol... No thanks. Focus on the elderly and sick/underlying conditions. The rest of us will be fine.

 

[antipodean]

Sounds promising, if a bit rushed, though it's all a mad scramble anyway, but twice the price of the Russian vaccine? I don't know about your cost comparison between jets and vaccines, do you have any references to check out?

Without wanting to go too far off topic please see links below to get an idea of how many dollars the government is pouring into Tango 01 and its state airline, two "small" examples of "luxury" items where dollars are being spent. Note that a commercial 757 has an hourly opex of around US$8,000-10,000 per hour plus about US$1m in annual maintenance plus other overheads - VIP operations are even more expensive due to lack of scale, various layers of protocols and security.

https://www.infobae.com/politica/20...lones-pero-recien-estaria-a-mediados-de-2021/ US$12,000,000-US$15,000,000 being spent on refurbishing Tango 01 to get it airborne in mid-2021.

https://simpleflying.com/argentina-state-carrier-investment/ - US$500,000,000 spent in 2020 keeping Aerolineas Argentinas in the air yet the government still does not want to use it and avoid duplication of cost or put some of that resource to more productive use.

In regards to vaccine prices, with Argentina knocking on doors so late in the game after the sh!t hit the fan and seeking urgent delivery in an effort to make good on irresponsible promises already made ... like anything in life, the price is going to end up higher than it could have otherwise been or the results less favorable than what they could have been.

In regards to Sinopharm in Peru, I understand they resumed trials thereafter the unfortunate event and suspension as last week a volunteer (who got the placebo) died. In the end Peru approved it and got it for $26 a dose - first doses scheduled to arrive 13FEB.

Peru to pay $26 million for first shipment of Sinopharm vaccine: minister

Peru will pay $26 million for an initial batch of one million doses of Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine, the first part of a broader agreement with the Chinese company to supply 38 million doses, economy minister Waldo Mendoza said on Tuesday.

www.reuters.com

 

[FrankPintor]

Al igual que Chile y Uruguay, Perú firmó un acuerdo con Pfizer para comprar 20 millones de vacunas

A diferencia de la Argentina, otros países de la región firmaron contratos para la adquisición de dosis elaboradas por el laboratorio norteamericano

www.infobae.com

"Like Chile and Uruguay, Peru signed an agreement with Pfizer to buy 20 million vaccines
Unlike Argentina, other countries in the region signed contracts for the acquisition of doses prepared by the North American laboratory"

Health Min: Peru prepared for cold chain storage of vaccines

The refrigeration and distribution system in Peru is prepared to handle <a href="https://andina.pe/ingles/noticia-peru-government-forms-working-group-for-covid19-vaccination-828860.aspx"target="_blank">the vaccination all citizens against COVID-19</a>, in any region or season of the year, <a...

andina.pe