COVID-19 vaccine development pipeline gears up

[gracielle]

Países ricos vs. pobres: el dilema de la distribución de las vacunas para el COVID-19

El arribo de las esperadas vacunas contra el coronavirus es motivo de intensas negociaciones que realizan todos los gobiernos. El desafío de Latinoamérica

www.infobae.com

11 February 2021
Rich countries vs. Poor: The COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Dilemma. The arrival of the expected coronavirus vaccines is the subject of intense negotiations by all governments. The challenge of Latin America.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) assured that 37 Latin American countries and territories participating in COVAX have already been notified about this first phase of delivery of the vaccine developed by the British laboratory AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. This tool will send in the first half of the year, between mid-February and the end of June, more than 35 million doses of the vaccine to combat the coronavirus. Many countries celebrate that they already have immunization against COVID-19, but the intention is not to create a sense of security with health measures to continue slowing the spread of the virus. The numbers of the pandemic continue to worsen....

 

[antipodean]

Países ricos vs. pobres: el dilema de la distribución de las vacunas para el COVID-19

El arribo de las esperadas vacunas contra el coronavirus es motivo de intensas negociaciones que realizan todos los gobiernos. El desafío de Latinoamérica

www.infobae.com

11 February 2021
Rich countries vs. Poor: The COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Dilemma. The arrival of the expected coronavirus vaccines is the subject of intense negotiations by all governments. The challenge of Latin America.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) assured that 37 Latin American countries and territories participating in COVAX have already been notified about this first phase of delivery of the vaccine developed by the British laboratory AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. This tool will send in the first half of the year, between mid-February and the end of June, more than 35 million doses of the vaccine to combat the coronavirus. Many countries celebrate that they already have immunization against COVID-19, but the intention is not to create a sense of security with health measures to continue slowing the spread of the virus. The numbers of the pandemic continue to worsen....

This is the big issue the world is facing right now. If we start celebrating at 20-40-50% of the population being vaccinated we are still too far from reality to count for anything on a macro level in any country. COVID will still be rife and crippling for such economies (and/ or societies) creating a long-term social and economic disadvantage for such countries.

This is why it is so important for any country to go fast and go hard now on immunization.

The only way to resolve this is to put all ideologies to the side and make real efforts (e.g. even at the cost of austerity) to purchase every available vaccine from every safe source and get them into as many arms as possible in order for a country to be able to function and compete at a fuller capacity sooner. Expecting problems with supply at the outset is better than regretting them later, and certainly a cheaper option in the long run.

Despite COVAX efforts, there are no magical messiahs hanging around waiting to give countries the solution - those that simply don't make the effort in good time or don't have the means will be left behind by the simple fact that they will continue to face international isolation to some extent and/ or suffer socio-economic disruptions from containment efforts within their own borders, stifling real growth for longer than their counterparts.

In my own opinion, fast forward 20 years, and unfortunately, we will see the fortunes of nations and the gaps between them linked by a large degree to this moment in time. Rich (and well organized) get richer, poor (and disorganized) get poorer. Poor sell everything they have, rich buy everything they can.

La vuelta a la normalidad podría tardar más de 5 en llegar, según Bloomberg

La vuelta a la normalidad podría tardar más de 5 en llegar, según Bloomberg

www.lanacion.com.ar

Coronavirus: la Argentina está sexta en el ránking de dosis aseguradas en América Latina

Coronavirus: la Argentina está sexta en el ránking de dosis aseguradas en América Latina

www.lanacion.com.ar

 

[artisans]

Por un temporal de nieve en Moscú, se complicó la carga de vacunas y el avión saldrá con demora hacia la Argentina
Source: Infobae

 

[gracielle]

Arribo contra todas las tormentas | Hoy está previsto que llegue el cuarto vuelo con vacunas de Moscú

El miércoles a la noche partió el vuelo de Aerolíneas Argentinas con destino a Moscú que traerá el cuarto cargamento de vacunas contra el Covid-19 al país. Se esperaba que el avión regresara a Ezeiza el viernes a las 14 horas, pero un temporal de nieve...

www.pagina12.com.ar

12 February 2021
Excerpt:....sources close to the AstraZéneca laboratory assured this newspaper that between Sunday and Tuesday 580,000 new doses will arrive from the Serum Institute of India.

 

[gracielle]

AstraZeneca producirá vacunas para las nuevas variantes de coronavirus | En un plazo de seis a nueve meses.

El mayor fabricante de medicamentos del Reino Unido, AstraZeneca, adelantó que planea acelerar la adaptación de la vacuna contra el coronavirus que desarrolló con la Universidad de Oxford a las nuevas variantes del virus en un plazo de seis a nueve mes...

www.pagina12.com.ar

12 February 2021
AstraZeneca to produce vaccines for new coronavirus variants. The UK's largest drug manufacturer, AstraZeneca, said it plans to accelerate the adaptation of the coronavirus vaccine it developed with the University of Oxford to new variants of the virus within six to nine months.

While presenting the company's annual balance at a press conference, the company directors announced that in collaboration with the University of Oxford, they will now focus on adapting their vaccine to new strains and hope to reduce the time needed to reach production to scales between six and nine months, using existing clinical data and optimizing their established supply chain. Although the results of the vaccine showed an efficacy of 76% after the first dose reaching 82% in the second, its effectiveness against the South African variant was reduced to between 10% and 20%. However, the vaccine is still effective against at least one variant of the virus, first discovered in Kent, England. The Oxford/AstraZeneca immunization was recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for use in all adults, despite limited data on its efficacy for older people, which led some European countries to rule out its application to those over 65 years. The pharmaceutical giant also announced that it has signed a letter of intent with the German laboratory IDT Biologika to produce more coronavirus vaccines for Europe from the second quarter of this year and ensure long-term supply capacity.

In addition to the vaccine, the company began phase 3 clinical trials of AZD7442, a combination of antibodies for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus....

 

[antipodean]

Cómo Chile logró la vacunación más masiva y eficiente de América Latina

En apenas diez días, el país se convirtió en el líder regional gracias a un exitoso protocolo que busca alcanzar en las próximas horas los 2 millones de inmunizados

www.infobae.com

10 days since starting vaccinations and Chile has administered the first shot to almost 2 million people and counting. As earlier reported by La Nación, Chile and Peru are the only countries in Latin America to have already confirmed contracts for quantities of vaccines sufficient to vaccinate their entire populations (244% and 111% respectively - versus Argentina at 52%)

 

[Rich One]

France estimates One Dose of Vaccine is enough..!

France plans one vaccine dose for recovered Covid patients

French health officials said a single dose would be enough to 'remind' the body how to fight off the virus, because an earlier infection would already have generated an immune response.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[artisans]

The Aerolineas Argentinas plane that brought from the Russian Federation a consignment of 400 thousand doses of the Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus landed at the Ezeiza airport at 19:08 today (Fri 12 Feb 2021).
Sputnik V: arribó el avión procedente de Moscú con una nueva partida de vacunas
Sputnik V: arribó el avión de Aerolíneas Argentinas procedente de Moscú con una nueva partida de vacunas - LA NACION

www.lanacion.com.ar

Arriving at the beginning of next week from India, 580,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine, manufactured in India, would arrive in the country.to cover all health workers and begin to vaccinate people over 70 years, explained González García,
“it will allow the vaccination of the prioritized groups to be scaled up."

The Indian vaccine is a variant of the Oxford vaccine.
Last Tuesday, the Ministry of Health of the Nation authorized with an “emergency” character the Covishield vaccine. It is the "COVISHIELD / ChAdOx1nCoV-19 Corona Virus Vaccine - Recombinant vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India", in collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, in the context of a technology transfer.

The vaccine is given in two doses, four to 12 weeks apart . It can be safely stored at temperatures of approximately 2 ° C to 8 ° C, the same as a household refrigerator, and can be administered in existing healthcare settings. International clinical trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine showed that when people received a half dose and then a full dose, the effectiveness reached 90% .

 

[gracielle]

La semana próxima Argentina podrá vacunar a casi un millón de personas | Llegan 580 mil dosis de AstraZeneca, que se suman a las 400 mil de Sputnik V

Además, se cerró el acuerdo para la llegada de un millón de dosis chinas y se esperan noticias de las asignadas por la OMS, a través de Covax. El foco se concentrará en la dificultad logística que implica un proceso de vacunación que calienta motores.

www.pagina12.com.ar

13 January 2021....by Pablo Esteban
Next week Argentina will be able to vaccinate almost a million people. In addition, the agreement was sealed for the arrival of 1 million Chinese doses and news of those assigned by the WHO is expected, through Covax. The focus will be on the logistical difficulty involved in a vaccination process.

Starting next week, there will be a million doses available to inoculate Argentine citizens. To the 400,000 from Sputnik V that landed at Ezeiza Airport, we must add the 580,000 from Oxford / AstraZeneca that will arrive next Tuesday. Produced by the Serum Institute of India, they will be transported by the logistics aviation company DHL. In addition, 580,000 more will arrive in March and with that the agreement with the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company sealed by the government days ago to enable the arrival of "additional items" to domestic territory will be fulfilled....

....It is worth noting that, as of March, AstraZeneca will begin with successive shipments of batches to complete the 22.4 million doses committed in August 2020 throughout 2021. In this case, it is the active substance that is being produced by the Argentine laboratory mAbxience (owned by local businessman Hugo Sigman) and which will be packaged and distributed throughout Latin America (except Brazil) by the work of the Liomont Laboratory in Mexico.

This afternoon the Aerolineas Argentinas plane from Moscow landed with the 400,000 doses of component 1 (adenovirus 26). In this way, the commitment of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (DRIF) and the Gamaleya Institute is settled for this week. As of February 14, the government of Vladimir Putin promised to regularly send 1 million doses per week from India and no longer from Moscow. With which, if everything goes according to schedule, it is feasible to wait for 2 million doses before the end of February. However, experience has shown that it is best to be cautious because all the biotechnology companies that are responsible for the manufacture of vaccine formulas have reported delays in their production chains.

The shipment by Gamaleya of batches of component 1 is closely related to the strategy that various health portfolios have implemented worldwide. Although immunity is not complete, the level of protection against future contagion can be considerable with a single dose. For this reason, the balance is tilting to inoculate the largest number of people with a single dose and defer the second.

In the context of international shortages and hoarding by power-countries, the Argentine government continues to advance on several fronts at the same time. The strategy of placing multiple eggs in different baskets seems to pay off. Days ago the agreement was sealed with the state company Sinopharm, through which the Chinese laboratory will send 500,000 copies of dose 1 and 500,000 of dose 2. To date, it is still necessary to unblock bureaucratic aspects and send documentation for the comprehensive check-up and evaluation that ANMAT traditionally performs with all products. In this way, the doses of AstraZeneca, those of the Gamaleya Center and those of Sinopharm must be added to those that will arrive through the Covax mechanism, an instrument created by the WHO that guarantees the equitable distribution of vaccines worldwide. It is about 2,200,000 doses that are committed for the first half of the 9 million that were bought by Argentina.

The focus on the vaccination rate.
Given the immediate availability of vaccines, what will have to be analyzed then is the distribution, logistics and rate of inoculation in the vaccination sites in the different provinces. It's not just about capacity but also about speed. In December, a vaccine specialist, the virologist Mario Lozano who is a researcher at the Conicet and former rector of the National University of Quilmes, assured that the country was in a position - in an ideal environment - to vaccinate 5 million people a month, that is, 4 people per minute for 10-12 hours for six days.

In CABA there will be 20 vaccinations and five mobile units. From Health they seek an agreement with the objective that "obras sociales" and the "prepagas" also vaccinate. Hospital Italiano, Hospital Británico, Hospital Alemán, Cemic, Osecac and ObSBA have already confirmed, although others have yet to do so, such as Swiss Medical, Galeno and Osde, which are precisely the most important ones. A priori, what the latter seek is to ensure sufficient doses for all their members and thus avoid complications.

On the other hand, in the Province of Buenos Aires, the entire vaccination process will use the public infrastructure network. To cite an emblematic case, in La Matanza there will be 56 vaccination centers and four hospitals. The goal is to inoculate about 600,000 persons in the coming weeks. The government's objective is to inoculate the largest number of the population at risk against the second wave, which is expected when temperatures begin to drop and people begin to hold their encounters in closed places without ventilation.

 

[gracielle]

Cuáles son las 5 mutaciones más preocupantes del COVID-19 y qué peligro representan realmente

Todos los virus mutan de forma natural con el tiempo y el Sars-CoV-2, que no es la excepción, ya ha mutado miles de veces. Pero los científicos identificaron las variantes genéticas más resistentes y peligrosas

www.infobae.com

Coronavirus: detectaron en el país la variante del Reino Unido

Coronavirus: detectaron en el país la variante del Reino Unido

www.lanacion.com.ar

13 February 2021....per Agencia Telam
Excerpt:....The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Roberto Salvarezza, announced today that the United Kingdom variant of coronavirus "associated with a case of community circulation" was detected in the country.

....A study of partial sequencing of the spike protein gene of the coronavirus detected in Argentina two new cases of the variant from the UK, one of them associated with a case of community circulation, and 14 from that of Rio de Janeiro, in a sample of 156 people from the province and the city of Buenos Aires. This is the last surveillance report of the Argentine Inter-institutional Genomics Project of SARS CoV-2 (Projecto Pais), which reported the detection of 16 cases of the two variants of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, but did not find the 501Y.V2 (South Africa) and 501Y.V3 (Manaus) mutations....