Vanesa Lopez
11/16/2020 3:58 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 11/16/2020 3:58 PM
The American company Moderna announced this Monday that its experimental vaccine against the coronavirus has an efficacy of 94.5%, in a trial that includes about 30 thousand volunteers and is in phase 3.
When asked if it will arrive in Argentina, sources from the national Ministry of Health explain to
Clarín
that they have been negotiating with different producers to ensure the largest number of vaccines.
At the moment, there are five
: AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Janssen, Gamaleya (Sputnik V) and Sinopharm.
As reported by Télam,
AstraZeneca
signed an agreement with the Argentine government to supply more than 22 million doses of its vaccine, which was developed by the University of Oxford.
Moderna's experimental vaccine is 94.5% effective.
Photo AP.
Regarding
Sputnik V
, developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Russia, our country would receive 25 million doses, of which 10 could arrive in December at an estimated price of $ 19.95.
As for
Janssen
, Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical company, the Argentine government is in talks, although so far there is no information on the number of doses or when it would deliver them.
The fourth candidate is that of
Pfizer
(United States) and
BioNTech
(German).
Argentina would initially receive three million doses in December at a price of $ 19, indicates the state press agency.
Finally, the Government also maintained contacts for the vaccine developed by the
Sinopharm
group
of China, although these negotiations are the least advanced.
And what about
Moderna
?
Although it is not among the five laboratories with which the Government has conversations, the Ministry of Health mentions another possible access route.
It is the management of the Covax mechanism, where
this American vaccine appears.
Covax is a multilateral collaboration on a global scale - made up of 172 countries, including Argentina - aimed at accelerating the development, production and
equitable access to vaccines
when they become available.
Moderna's vaccine is in phase 3 of research.
Photo DPA.
It is spearheaded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) and the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with vaccine manufacturers from developed and developing countries.
So far, nine vaccines are part of the Covax portfolio.
La
Moderna is one of them
.
The list is completed by candidates from Inovio, CureVac, Merck, AstraZeneca, University of Hong Kong, Novavax, Clover Biopharmaceuticals and University of Queensland.
And another nine are in the process of evaluation.
Our country has already paid an advance, through the Covax fund, for
9 million doses
of vaccines against the coronavirus.
"We bought 9 million and there we still have the possibility to
choose some of the vaccines
that arrive more quickly. Because it is not only the quantity, but also the opportunity. For us it is essential, as soon as possible, to generate peace of mind for Argentines", said Ginés González García, Minister of National Health, in dialogue with TN.
Moderna's vaccine showed efficacy in a clinical trial involving about 30,000 volunteers.
Photo Reuters.
"Argentina is going to be one of the countries that will receive the Covax mechanism vaccines first, 9 million doses, but that will not be before the
end of February or the beginning of March,"
concluded Carla Vizzotti, Secretary of Access to Health, in a meeting with the Argentine Network of Scientific Journalism (RADPC).
This Monday, Moderna reported that by the end of 2020 it expects to have approximately
20 million doses ready
to be shipped to the United States.
In the same way, they affirm that they "are still on their way" to manufacture between 500 million and 1 billion doses worldwide in 2021.
The next step will be to provide all the documentation and efficacy data of at least two months necessary for the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA, in its acronym in English) to grant them the
emergency authorization
, which allows them to put in hand of medical therapies and experimental treatments against Covid-19.
Moderna assured that he hopes to make this request to the FDA "in the coming weeks" and in parallel to start the authorization processes with regulatory agencies in other countries and regions.
SC