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Two vaccines against COVID-19 show promising results, what are their differences and similarities?

2020-11-16T22:33:09.928Z


Pfizer and Moderna have developed vaccines with good results, but there is still a long way to go for their manufacture and mass distribution. Health personnel and patients at risk would be the first to be vaccinated when it is available.


The pharmaceutical company Moderna revealed this Monday that its vaccine against COVID-19 has proven to be highly effective in a major trial, offering the world a dose of optimism in the race to find

a remedy against the coronavirus that, on a daily basis, causes the death of about 8,000 people around the planet.

Last weekend, the United States exceeded 11 million cases - just last week it registered a million infections - and now has 245,000 deaths.

Moderna said its vaccine appears to be 94.5% effective, according to preliminary data from the study it is conducting.

A week ago, Pfizer announced that its own vaccine appeared to be equally effective, news that puts both companies on the right track to apply for permission for emergency use in the United States.

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Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, said the results are a "really important milestone," and said having similar efficiencies across two different companies is reassuring.

"That should give us hope that a vaccine can actually stop this pandemic and hopefully give us our lives back," Hoge told The Associated Press news agency.  

“It will not only be Modern that solves this problem.

Many vaccines are going to be required ”to be able to meet global demand, he added.

Both vaccines use the same technology

Both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are developing messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, a completely new technology.

They are not made with the coronavirus itself, which means that there is no possibility that someone could get it from the injections.

Instead they contain a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the enriched protein on the surface of the virus.

That fragment triggers alarms in the immune system and stimulates it to attack, in case the real virus tries to invade it.

Although several vaccines using this technology are being developed for other infections and different types of cancer, none have yet been approved or marketed.

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High percentage of effectiveness

Pfizer's vaccine is 90% effective.

43,538 people participated in the phase three tests, of which nine out of ten had received a second dose by November 8.

Among all these samples, the analysis has evaluated 94 cases especially, because only eight were infected by the coronavirus after having received the vaccine in two doses three weeks apart.

These figures have led Pfizer to assess that its vaccine is 90% effective, well above the 50% required

by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize a coronavirus vaccine.

Moderna's product is 94.5% effective

and was developed with the National Institutes of Health, which studies 30,000 volunteers who received the real vaccine or a sham injection.

On Sunday, an independent monitoring board examined 95 infections that were recorded two weeks after the second dose given to the volunteers, and found that all but five of those cases occurred in the participants who received the placebo.

The study continues and Moderna acknowledged that the rate of protection could change as more COVID-19 infections are detected and added

to the calculations.

Also, it is too early to know how long the protection lasts.

Both of these precautions also apply to the Pfizer vaccine.

Modern independent monitors reported some promising additional data: All

11 severe cases of COVID-19 occurred among placebo recipients,

and there were no major safety concerns.

The good results of both pharmaceutical projects are a surprise.

For months, scientists have warned that any COVID-19 vaccine could be as good as flu vaccines, which are about 50% effective.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, commented in an interview: “I have said that I would be satisfied with a vaccine that was 75% effective.

Aspirationally, I'd like to see one at 90 or 95%, but I wasn't expecting it.

I thought we would be fine, but 94.5% is very impressive

. "

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Who would get the vaccine first?

FDA regulators should review the evidence for Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, but signs of success suggest that

both vaccines could be available to high-risk populations before the end of this year.

Fauci has said that healthcare workers or patients with conditions that increase their risk of developing a serious illness could start receiving doses before the end of the year.

Then school personnel and people working in food supply chains would be vaccinated, in the later phase it would be available to children and young adults, and then the rest of the population.

Vaccination of people in high-risk groups could take about four months and, in April, the application of the doses could be expanded to all people.

So far, the main side effects of both drugs have been fatigue, muscle aches and injection site discomfort.

According to experts, these symptoms are different from those seen with, for example, flu shots but are similar to those seen with the shingles vaccine.

The challenge of manufacturing and distribution

Now the focus of vaccine development research will shift to the overwhelming logistics of manufacturing and distribution.

Although the FDA allows emergency use of Moderna or Pfizer drugs, there will be limited supplies through the end of the

year and both vaccines require two doses separated by several weeks.

Moderna expects to have about 20 million doses destined for the United States by the end of 2020. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech expect to have about 50 million doses worldwide by the end of the year.

Another great challenge, especially in the case of Pfizer, is distributing the doses that must be kept very cold.

Pfizer's vaccine should be shipped and stored at -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit), the type of temperature typical of an Antarctic winter.

At standard refrigerator temperatures, it can be stored for up to five days.

A key advantage of Moderna's vaccine is that it does not require ultra-cold storage, making it easy to distribute.

Moderna expects it to be stable at standard refrigerator temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for 30 days and can be stored for up to 6 months at -20 degrees (-4 degrees Fahrenheit).

On Friday, Moncef Slaoui, chief scientist for Operation Warp Speed, the Trump Administration's program to accelerate the development of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, said that if any of those pharmaceutical projects received permission for emergency use, immunization could begin sometime in December.

However, Fauci said the vaccines will likely not be widely available before April.

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The government will buy the vaccines and give them to the public for free.

But both companies hope to make a profit and not offer their products at cost.

Moderna said it would charge other countries between $ 32 and $ 37 per dose.

The charge to the United States, which has already committed about $ 2.5 billion to help develop Moderna's vaccine and buy doses, is about $ 24.80 per injection, according to Jordan, the company spokesman.

Pfizer did not receive money from the government to develop or test its vaccine.

But Operation Warp Speed ​​promised him $ 1.95 billion to provide 100 million doses, which is equivalent to about $ 19.50 per dose.

Moderna has already taken the first necessary steps to request government agencies in Great Britain, Canada and Europe to market its vaccine

, and the company has made deals to sell 50 million doses to Japan and unspecified quantities to Qatar and Israel.

Moderna's announcement caused an immediate reaction in global financial markets.

The Dow Jones Index doubled pre-market earnings and was up 500 points before the opening bell.

Moderna shares - which soared nearly 15% to $ 102.64 - are likely to hit an all-time high.

The Asian and European markets also exploded.

With information from AP, The New York Times and The Washington Post

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2020-11-16

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