UK COVID-19 Vaccines: Trial Results Far From Enough
UK COVID-19 Vaccines: Trial Results Far From Enough
UK COVID-19 Vaccines: Trial Results Far From Enough. Zhong Nanshan, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering or China Top expert of public health said: The 3-month clinical trial results of Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines are far from enough.
At the first China Health Technology Innovation and Development Conference held on November 27, Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the
According to news on the official website of the British government on the 2nd, a spokesperson for the British Ministry of Health and Social Care stated that the government has accepted the recommendations of the Drug and Medical Products Regulatory Agency to approve the use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine will be available throughout the UK starting next week.
The UK becomes the first country in the world to approve the use of Pfizer vaccine
Pfizer and BioNTech announced on Tuesday (December 1st) that their mRNA COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 has obtained the emergency use temporary authorization of the British Medicines and Medical Products Regulatory Agency, and will give priority to high-risk populations in the UK to provide vaccines.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunization in the United Kingdom will announce on Wednesday which groups can be given priority for vaccination. It is expected to include medical staff, the elderly and the extremely vulnerable clinically.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Security of the United Kingdom said that the decision to urgently authorize the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was based on a comprehensive analysis of the clinical trial data of the vaccine by experts from the Medicines and Medical Products Regulatory Authority, and believed that its safety, quality and effectiveness Meet strict standards.
Clinical trials conducted by Pfizer and BioNTech in approximately 43,500 subjects in 6 countries have shown that the vaccine is as effective as 95%, with no serious side effects.
The official website of the British government announced on the 2nd that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be available throughout the UK starting next week. Prior to this, Pfizer and BioNTech had signed a contract with the British government to provide a total of 40 million doses of vaccine to the UK in 2020 and 2021.
On the same day, the Daily Economic News reporter also learned from BioNTech that BioNTech and Pfizer have submitted a conditional marketing authorization application for the COVID-19 vaccine candidate to the European Medicines Agency. The European Medicines Agency plans to publish the COVID-19 vaccine on December 29. opinion”. It is reported that the US Food and Drug Administration’s decision to authorize the use of the vaccine will also be announced in December. The United States and the European Union previously ordered 100 million doses and 200 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines.
Transport and Storage of Vaccines
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine requires storage conditions of around minus 70 degrees. Regarding the cold chain transportation issue that is of great concern to the outside world, Pfizer said that it has developed a specially designed temperature-controlled transportation device that can maintain the recommended temperature (-70°C ±10°C) with dry ice for about 10 days without opening the box. After unpacking, it needs to be refrigerated every 5 days, so that the recommended temperature can be maintained for 30 days. Once thawed, the vaccine glass bottle can be stored for 5 days in normal refrigerator conditions (2-8 degrees Celsius). In view of the current large-scale demand for the COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer predicts that the vaccine will not be stored for more than 30 days anywhere.
Zhong Nanshan, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering: The 3-month clinical trial results of Pfizer and Moderna are far from enough
At the first China Health Technology Innovation and Development Conference held on November 27, Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that the 3-month clinical trial results of Pfizer and Moderna were far from enough. Vaccine protection rate is not the only indicator. (Note: The Phase III clinical trial of Pfizer vaccine began on July 27, and on November 18, Pfizer and BioNTech announced the end of the Phase III clinical trial of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate)
In response to the most concerned vaccines, Zhong Nanshan pointed out that natural immunization is unrealistic, unscientific and inhumane. Among the 14 new coronavirus vaccines currently in clinical trials, China’s vaccines are moving forward steadily.
“We will not lag behind the foreign vaccines that have already announced some Phase III results. Currently, the results published by Moderna and Pfizer have data on effective and protective efficiency of more than 90%, but this data is only one of the indicators. Good vaccine’, we have to consider other factors.”
