On the 22nd, officials from the virus research institute in Belgrade, Serbia, are unloading the first amount of Pfizer-Bioentech’s Corona 19 vaccine from a truck. Belgrade = Reuters Yonhap News
The United States is working hard to speed up vaccination against the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19). Although it is the world’s largest corona 19 victim, the United States has already commercialized two types of vaccines that we have not yet obtained. Given the confidence of pharmaceutical companies, a vaccine to prevent’variant corona’ from the UK is also expected to be released sooner or later.
The New York Times reported on the 22nd (local time) that the administration of Donald Trump had virtually agreed to a contract with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer to purchase tens of millions of doses of the Corona 19 vaccine next year. The contract included that the U.S. government would apply the Defense Producer Production Act to help Pfizer receive additional raw materials for nine special products needed to make the vaccine, at Pfizer’s request.
With this contract, the amount of Pfizer vaccine that the US government can secure in the first half of next year is expected to be about 70 million doses. It is an amount that can be administered to 35 million people because immunity occurs only after two injections. Currently, the Trump administration can vaccinate about 150 million people during that period. It has signed a contract to receive 100 million doses of Pfizer vaccine in the first quarter of next year and half of the doses of modena vaccine in the first and second quarters of 200 million. With a total of 260 million Americans in the age group that can be vaccinated, 110 million people could not get the vaccine within the first half of next year. In this context, an additional purchase contract for 30 to 40 million people with Pfizer took some breath.
The future supply and demand situation is also not bad. If vaccines from other companies besides Pfizer and Modena are approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) around the beginning of next year, the majority of Americans in the age group will be able to develop immunity during the first half. “We will have at least three vaccines by January,” said Brett Giroer, the US Assistant Secretary of Health, on the 20th, on the ABC broadcast. I look forward to it.” The’Vaccine Trio Era’ is opening in the United States.
He failed to extend the regime, but anyway, such a speed battle is the feat of the Donald Trump administration. President Trump praised himself on Twitter that day. “Two vaccines are being distributed smoothly. It’s amazing how many people get the vaccine. It was a record figure,” he wrote. “Our country and the world will soon see the great miracles that the Trump administration has accomplished.”
Of course, there is a reason to rush. The corona situation in the US is still worsening. The Washington Post of the United States said that “the average of 217,000 new cases occurred every day in the United States last week. This means that new infections appeared every 0.4 seconds.” The cumulative corona19 confirmed in the United States exceeded 18 million on the 21st, and the death toll is close to 320,000. The number of patients can exceed 20 million within this year.
Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccination competition. Graphic = Reporter Dongjun Shin
British bang variant corona spread signs… Vaccine efficacy trials such as Pfizer started
Corona 19, a variant that hits the UK and spreads out of Europe, is also a factor inspiring impatience not only in the US but also in the governments of each country. After the emergence of the variant, the spread of corona in the UK is steep. The number of new confirmed cases a day (36,804) disclosed by the British government on that day is the highest ever. It’s not just England. In Europe, where the cumulative death toll from corona exceeded 500,000 for the first time in the world on this day, the death toll has doubled in the last 60 days. Although it has not been confirmed, the U.S. health authorities believe that a variant of Corona 19 may have already entered the country.
But even in this situation, the hope is a vaccine. Pfizer-Bioentech and Modena, who developed the vaccine, recently launched a test to verify the efficacy of the vaccine against the strain. On the day, Reuters reported that in addition to the two companies, four global pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca (UK) and Curebag (Germany), expected their vaccine to be effective in the prevention of the variant COVID-19. Ugur Sahin, CEO of Bioentech, said to Reuters that “we will be able to provide a new vaccine within six weeks.”
Therefore, it is the country that has not properly secured the vaccine. As the vaccination battle led by the United States intensified day by day, even after signing a contract, it was impossible to rule out the possibility that the quantity could not be met due to production disruptions. Pfizer, Modena, Janssen, etc., as well as AstraZeneca, the only company that has signed a vaccine introduction contract, are uncertain whether they will deliver products on time.
Kwon Kyung-seong reporter [email protected]
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