Covid-19 updates: Expeditious efforts being made across world to find vaccine, all you need to know

Pharmaceutical manufacturers in India and across the world are burning the midnight oil in a bid to come up with a vaccine to treat the novel coronavirus disease which has transmitted infection to over 20 million people thus far.

Numerous scientific studies are also being carried out as part of effort in order to find treatments and vaccines for Covid-19, the disease caused by Sars-CoV-2 virus.

A total of 26 vaccine contenders are being made, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO)  the procedure normally takes up to 15 years, however, has been cut short into a matter of months.

All you need to know about the global efforts being made to find a vaccine fast for Covid-19:

*) In India, an expert committee on vaccine administration will convene a meeting on Wednesday to consider “logistics and ethical aspects” of procurement and administration of vaccines against Covid-19, the Union health ministry stated today. The committee will be chaired by NITI Aayog’s Dr VK Paul. The coronavirus disease has infected over 2.2 million people and killed over 44,000 in India.

*) The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), three Indian vaccines are in different phases of clinical testing. Two of these vaccines - Bharat Biotech vaccine and DNA vaccine of Zydus Cadila have ended phase 1 and will begin phase 2 clinical trials.

*) Oxford vaccine, being made by Serum Institute of India (SII) got a nod for phase 2 and 3 clinical trials, which are starting within a week at 17 locations.

*) Karnataka’s deputy CM Dr CN Ashwath Narayan stated on Tuesday that the state government is very committed to set up an Immunology and Vaccine Research Centre in Bengaluru in alliance with the Emory Vaccine Centre of Atlanta University.

*) Last week, SII had stated that it has entered into a new partnership with international vaccine alliance Gavi and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to speed up manufacturing and delivery of up to 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines for India as well as other low and middle-income countries. SII CEO Adar Poonawalla told a TV channel that the company will start making the vaccines by end of August.

*) Worldwide, Russia is leading the race to allow civilian use of a potential coronavirus vaccine before clinical trials are complete. The government plans to give a vaccine developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute conditional registration as early as this week, which would open the door to civilian use.

This has led an industry body to call this rush dangerous for the people. Even so less than 100 people had officially received the inoculation against the epidemic by early August and its extensive use could be harmful, the Association of Clinical Trials Organizations stated that in a letter sent to Health Minister Mikhail Murashko.

*) Moderna has become the first company in the world to begin phase 3 testing of its vaccine. The tests are being done at its facilities in the United States. The tests started on 27th July and the company plans to sign up 30,000 study subjects.

*) Pfizer too began its combined phase 2 and 3 study on 27th July and aims to sign up 30,000 volunteers by September. The company’s CEO Albert Bourla said they have vaccinated over 2,000 people by early August.

Also Read: Global COVID-19 count surpasses 20 million mark