Hyderabad: With the researchers across the world racing against time to find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus that has changed the world as we know it. There are a few candidates that have successfully come closer to the solution to the pandemic.
With the vaccination being one of the most cost-effective public health tools to prevent infectious diseases, significant progress has been made in expanding the coverage of vaccines globally.
Here are the details of most talked about Covid-19 vaccines around the globe -
- BNT162b2 mRNA
New York-based Pfizer and the German company BioNTech is over 95 per cent effective in the third phase trial. It will cost $20.00.
- mRNA
In the third phase of the trial indicated that the vaccine was 94.5 per cent effective. Moderna in partnership with National Institutes of Health found this vaccine. It will cost $25-$37.
- ChAdOx1/ Covishield
The British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford developed a vaccine based on a chimpanzee adenovirus. The Oxford researchers began by testing the vaccine, known as ChAdOx1, on monkeys. The vaccine began Phase 2/3 trials in the United Kingdom and India (Covishield). An initial half-strength dose led to 90 per cent efficacy, while two standard-dose shots led only to 62 per cent efficacy. It will cost $3-4$ in India and in U.K( $4-$5).
Also read: Covid vaccine likely to reach India's last mile by 2022-23: Expert
- Ad26
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston developed a method for making vaccines out of a virus called Adenovirus 26, or Ad26 for short. Johnson & Johnson developed vaccines for Ebola and other diseases with Ad26 and have now made one for the coronavirus. These two united developed this vaccine. It is on the third phase of trial now.
- Sputnik V
Gamaleya Research Institute of Russia has developed this vaccine, initially called Gam-Covid-Vac, from adenoviruses called Ad5 and Ad26. It is 92-95 per cent effective in third phase trial. It will cost less than $20.
- CoronaVac
Sinovac Biotech, a private Chinese company, developed an inactivated vaccine called CoronaVac. In July, Sinovac launched a Phase 3 trial in Brazil, followed by others in Indonesia and Turkey. While Sinovac has yet to release late-stage trial data, on Oct. 19 officials in Brazil said that it was the safest of five vaccines they were testing in Phase 3 trials.
- Covaxin
In collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology, the Indian company Bharat Biotech designed a vaccine called Covaxin based on an inactivated form of the coronavirus. The third phase human clinical trial of indigenously developed anti-coronavirus vaccine candidate Covaxin began at the AIIMS on 26 November It is under trial.
- Novavax
Maryland-based Novavax makes vaccines by sticking proteins onto microscopic particles. Novavax launched a Phase 3 trial enrolling up to 15,000 volunteers in the United Kingdom. Novavax reached an agreement with the Serum Institute of India, a major vaccine manufacturer, that they said would enable them to produce as many as 2 billion doses a year.
Also read: AstraZeneca: COVID-19 vaccine provides up to 90% prevention
- Ad5
The Chinese company CanSino Biologics developed a vaccine based on an adenovirus called Ad5, in partnership with the Institute of Biology at the country’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences. Starting in August, CanSino began running Phase 3 trials in a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Russia. In an unprecedented move, the Chinese military approved the vaccine on June 25 for a year as a “specially needed drug.”
- Nicotiana benthamiana
Canada-based Medicago partly funded by the cigarette maker Philip Morris, grow vaccines in a plant called Nicotiana benthamiana, a wild species related to tobacco. A Phase 2/3 trial of the vaccine began on November 12. In that study, they found that an adjuvant made by GSK produced promising levels of antibodies in volunteers.
