The domestic target of 30 million people, which is essential for collective immunity, exceeds the Pfizer-Jansen vaccine contract.
Pfizer, a leader in vaccine development, is difficult to distribute but has the best effect
AstraZeneca is cheaper and seems to be the fastest in domestic vaccination
Pfizer and Janssen will only be possible after the first half of next year
[오피니언뉴스=양소희 기자] Following AstraZeneca’s early pre-purchase by the government, Pfizer and Janssen announced that they have succeeded in securing vaccines.
The government initially planned to secure a vaccine for 44 million people, and said that it plans to start vaccination from February to March next year. This means that it has secured 26 million people in addition to the 10 million AstraZeneca vaccines that had been secured through the vaccine contract with Pfizer and Janssen.
The government plans to bring in an additional 10 million people in January of next year through a contract with Modena. In addition, it announced that it plans to secure an additional 10 million people through the international project’Covax Facility’ for joint purchase and distribution of vaccines. If this happens, it will exceed the 30 million people originally set by the government as the target for collective immunity.
The domestic vaccination period is expected to be beyond the first quarter of AstraZeneca vaccine and the first half of next year. Some criticize the vaccination timing as “it’s too late compared to other countries”, but there are also some refutations that it’s wise to think carefully and vaccination carefully.
Leading Pfizer, the distribution process is difficult but the effect is outstanding
The effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine, which was first approved for emergency use in the UK, is known to be 95% effective and is highly accurate among vaccines under research and development. The efficacy of 95% is a clinical result of 42,000 subjects.
Pfizer vaccine is a vaccine that uses artificially made mRNA to strengthen the acquired immunity of the immune system. Nanoparticles containing RNA are injected into muscle tissue through saline and absorbed into immune cells.
It is a form of a’nucleic acid vaccine’ that draws immunity by making the appearance of existing human cells the same as the coronavirus, and it is achieved through two doses of inoculation, and the unit price is relatively high along with the moder or vaccine. AstraZeneca’s vaccine costs between $3 and $5, while Pfizer’s vaccine costs about $20.
According to New Scientist’s British Weekly magazine, the duration of the Pfizer vaccine is still difficult to determine. “Now, four months have passed since the two doses of the vaccine have been administered,” said New Scientist. “WHO believes that it can last up to six months.” It is a position that more accurate results will come out as time goes by as monitoring of the patients continues.
Regarding the duration of the vaccination effect of Pfizer’s vaccine, he said, “I started to evaluate the effectiveness by monitoring the progress from the 7th day after the second dose. CEO Sahin will appear before that.”
As to whether he must take two doses, he answered “yes”. Between the first and second doses, there was an interval of 19 to 42 days, and when the second dose was missed, he said, “It’s not clear, but for the immune system, you have to hit twice.”
The side effects of Pfizer’s vaccine do not appear to be much different from other vaccines in general. Fatigue, headache, and muscle pain were reported as side effects, and the elderly over the age of 65 were only milder side effects.
However, among the clinical trial participants, the elderly were between 65 and 85 years of age, and no separate clinical trial was conducted for those over 85 years of age. The effectiveness of the vaccine in the elderly was 94%. Biontech said, “There was no significant difference in effects depending on race, gender, etc.”
Also, among the four vaccines, the distribution process is the most difficult, so cold chain distribution is essential. It is known that Pfizer vaccine should be distributed at cryogenic temperatures below -70 degrees Celsius.
Kim Moran, a professor at the National Cancer Center, said, “Pfizer vaccine is difficult to obtain quickly because vaccination is difficult.” In the case of Pfizer vaccine, it is dissolved after distribution of the cold chain, and when dissolved, it is inoculated with a saline solution. At this time, it is difficult to cope with changes in the number of vaccinations because at least 5 people are contained per vaccine bottle.
In addition, the entire process of dissolving the vaccine and inoculating it with saline solution should be done within 2 hours, so a place with a large-scale refrigeration facility is expected to be needed.
Janssen’s only one-time vaccination system…slow clinical speed is an obstacle
One of the companies that signed a vaccine supply contract that the government announced on the 24th with Pfizer is Janssen. Janssen is a vaccine specialist in the pharmaceutical sector of Johnson & Johnson.
Janssen’s vaccine is the only one-time vaccination system among the four global pharmaceutical companies’ vaccines, and has the advantage of being able to store at least 3 months at room temperature at 2-8 degrees Celsius and 2 years at -20 degrees Celsius. Janssen is currently in phase 3 clinical trials, and a clinical trial to confirm the effectiveness of the two doses is also in progress.
Janssen’s vaccine, along with AstraZeneca, is a method of injecting dead or weakened viruses with a virus carrier vaccine to produce antibodies.
Janssen has been conducting clinical trials in the United States, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, etc. for 60,000 people around the world from this September. The end of the year is the first quarter of next year, and in October, a side effect was discovered from a patient receiving the vaccine in Brazil, and the clinical trial was temporarily suspended.
Dr. Boss, who is in charge of vaccines at Johnson & Jones, described the corona vaccine as a vaccine containing the same technology as the Ebola vaccine.
Currently, Janssen has applied for approval to Health Canada. Janssen’s vaccine is still in phase 3 clinical trials, and its R&D speed is slightly slower than that of Pfizer and Modena. The official results of the Janssen vaccine’s phase 3 clinical trial are expected to be released in the first quarter of next year.
Janssen’s vaccine costs $10 per dose.
Modena, 3 months antibody maintenance.. Asymptomatic infection can be prevented.
Moderna, along with Pfizer, is one of the leading leaders in vaccine development. This vaccine has already begun in the United States with Pfizer.
The accuracy of Modena vaccine is 94.1%, similar to that of Pfizer, but the antibody is maintained for at least 3 months. Modena also consists of two doses of inoculation and is given every three weeks. Similar to Pfizer, it is known to have a prophylactic effect a week after the second vaccination, and it can be seen that the effect occurs a month after the first vaccination.
Production is less than that of Pfizer. Pfizer said it could produce 50 million batches by this year and 1.3 billion batches by next year. It is the scale of vaccination for a total of 650 million people. Moderna announced that it could produce 20 million batches by the end of this year and 500 to 1 billion batches by next year. It is equivalent to 250 million to 500 million people.
Modena said about its vaccine through CNN that it “can prevent the infection itself as well as the onset of symptoms.” This was confirmed in the process of analyzing the submitted data by the US FDA, and it is noteworthy that even asymptomatic infections can be prevented.
Modena also did not show any serious side effects yet. The unit price is between $15 and $25, making it the most expensive among the four pharmaceutical companies. In principle, it is kept at -20 degrees Celsius, but it seems to be less difficult than Pfizer as it is known to be able to maintain a stable state for up to 30 days between 2 and 8 degrees.
AstraZeneca, price competitiveness is strong…effectiveness is low
AstraZeneca, which the government first signed a pre-purchase contract, is a multinational pharmaceutical company that plans to provide 10 million vaccines in Korea between February and March next year.
As the research is conducted with 100% government and non-profit funding, the vaccine unit price is 3~5 dollars, which is the cheapest, and its strength is that it can be distributed and stored in a refrigerated state between 2 and 8 degrees for 6 months.
The disadvantage is that the vaccine’s effectiveness is inferior to that of Pfizer and Modena. The preventive effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine is known to be 70.4%. However, the preventive effect differs depending on the dose administered at each dose, and additional studies are underway.
In the case of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the efficacy was 62.1% when the full dose was administered once and twice, but it was found that the prevention effect increased to 90% if only half the dose was administered in one dose and the entire dose was injected twice.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be approved in the UK right after Christmas. On the 24th, AstraZeneca announced through Reuters that the vaccine that it is researching and developing is “appears to be effective against the corona mutant virus,” and that “a related study to analyze the effects of the mutant virus is in progress.”
The AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be approved for emergency use in India following the UK.
Reporter Yang So-hee[email protected]
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