Never have vaccines been produced so quickly.
The frantic race for precious anti-Covid-19 sera started in the spring of 2020. Less than a year later, several vaccines were put on the market, in record time.
More than ten serums are currently available in the world.
France has authorized three: the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
American Johnson & Johnson's is set to become fourth on this list.
Efficacy, technique used, storage methods, number of doses ... what are the differences between these vaccines?
The new Johnson & Johnson vaccine is eagerly awaited because it only requires one dose.
All others require two.
The European Medicines Agency should authorize it in March and deliveries could even begin in April.
It was designed by Janssen-Cilag International NV, a European subsidiary of the American group based in Belgium.
It is a viral vector vaccine.
On the other hand, it would only be effective at 66% in general, but its designers put forward a figure of 85% in the face of severe forms.
Another good news is that this vaccine can be stored in a simple refrigerator, between 2 ° C and 8 ° C.
Which greatly facilitates logistics.
30 million doses should be delivered to France by June.
The first vaccine to be authorized on French soil is that of Pfizer / BioNTech.
It was late December.
It was manufactured in barely 10 months, a record time.
Its effectiveness is formidable, it is evaluated at 95%, a figure so far, not equaled.
The “BNT162 b2” vaccine, resulting from a collaboration between the American laboratory Pfizer and the German BioNTech, was created on November 18, 2020. It is administered in two injections.
The serum had to be stored at -80 ° C first, but the US Medicines Agency then authorized its storage at “conventional” freezer temperatures “more commonly used”, between -15 and -25 ° C.
This greatly facilitates the storage and distribution of doses.
There is nothing classic about this serum.
It works with “messenger RNA”, an innovative process never used before in the history of marketed vaccines.
Instead of injecting part of the virus (classic vaccine process), we will inject a messenger RNA fragment (genetic material of the virus).
This RNA is like a code with instructions, a message.
It will order our body to reproduce the viral proteins of the virus, the S protein in particular.
These are the peaks that allow the virus to take hold in our body.
The antibodies will then quickly develop to fight against this intruder.
If a vaccinated person comes into contact with Covid-19, their body will then recognize it immediately and the antibodies will destroy it.
The big advantage with a Messenger RNA vaccine is that it is easily reproducible.
The Moderna serum has also entered the restricted circle of vaccines administered in France.
It is very similar to that of Pfizer.
It is 94% efficient and also uses the messenger RNA technique.
It can be stored in a -20 freezer and is administered in 2 divided doses of 28 days.
The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, even received it in front of American cameras on December 29 while Joe Biden had received the Pfizer / BioNTech.
The last vaccine is that of AstraZeneca / Oxford.
With 2.5 billion doses ordered, it is the best-selling vaccine in the world.
Cousin of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, it also uses a viral vector method.
Its efficiency rate is 70%.
It can be stored in the refrigerator between 2 and 8 ° C.
In France, people aged 50 and over suffering from co-morbidities can be vaccinated with AstraZeneca at their GP, in the hospital that follows them, and soon in a pharmacy.
However, those aged 75 and over must be vaccinated with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at a vaccination center.
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Advances in vaccines are progressing rapidly.
A study carried out in real conditions in the United Kingdom among the over 70s has just shown that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines against the coronavirus are "highly effective" after a first dose, particularly on hospitalizations.
Other vaccines are under study and could soon join the French arsenal in the fight against Covid-19.
