Know the Basics on the Pending Vaccines

The pandemic that has taken our countries by storm worldwide has been at the top of the news headlines for almost a year. Although there are still many things for us to learn about COVID-19, the one thing that has crept to the forefront of our minds as with any disease is a cure and is far from being found, however there are vaccines being developed in a matter of months that is said to assist with the ability to fight the virus off.

Currently there are five top pharmaceutical companies developing a vaccine that shows good promise. Taking a closer look at these five companies plus their vaccines is the number one concern on most people's minds when it comes to deciding whether it is safe to even take a vaccine in order to alleviate the current status quo. These vaccines have been put together in record time to battle the pandemic because COVID-19 as of today has been taking over 2000 lives a day in the United States alone. It has become the number one cause of death in the United States over even heart disease. In order too slow these results a vaccine needed to be made to battle these numbers. So, knowing the basic facts about each company's vaccine is going to be essential in the days to come.

The five popular companies that have rushed their vaccines through trials in order to get people help are AstraZeneca, Janssen, Moderna, Novavax, and Pfizer. So, the first one we'll look at is Astrazeneca. The vaccine developed by Astrazeneca also known as add-1222 is made from a cold causing adenovirus isolated from the stool of chimpanzees and modified so that it no longer replicates in the cells. When injected the vaccine instructs the human cells to produce SARS- Co-V2 a spike protein which is the main target by our immune systems when battling the coronavirus. According to the analysis developed on November 23rd, 131 COVID-19 cases among the 11,000 trial participants show that the two-dose vaccine has 90% efficacy. The interesting factor in these studies is that they have discovered that it performs better with a lower first dose then with a higher first dose, so it is a two-dose regimen. As is the case with most of the developing vaccines. During the trial, the data supported the suggestion that it blocks the transmission from one person to the other. The shelf life is the most stable of all the vaccines and can remain at refrigerator temperature so transportation along with storage is not as difficult. Astrazeneca expects to have at least 2 million doses available by the end of 2020 and can produce 100 million minimum per month starting in 2021.

The next vaccine we're going to look at it is made by Janssen which is also known as a D26.Co-V2.S or JNJ-78436735. This vaccine triggers production of antibodies and immune cells that target the Coronavirus. It also instructs the production of the S protein which will encourage the immune system to produce the antibodies and T cells necessary to fight the virus. This means that if you become exposed to Covid-19 the immune system will be able to recognize the virus and have developed the antibodies to fight it and possibly prevent it. This vaccine is good for two years if kept at negative 20 degrees Celsius or three months at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, so the shelf life of this vaccine is not as good as the shelf life of AstraZeneca. This is one of the only vaccines that has a one dose regimen and can develop 400 million doses ready for dispersal before the end of the year. It uses a human adenovirus and trials for a two-dose regimen have just begun.

The vaccine from Moderna also known as mRNA-1273 has a 94% efficacy in a two-dose regimen. During the 30,000-volunteer study 185 cases were in the placebo trial and 11 cases showed up with those with the vaccine. It is also good to note that there were also 30 severe cases in the placebo trials and zero severe cases for those that took the vaccine. Moderna can guarantee 100 million can be produced in 2020 and 500 million vaccines in 2021. Moderna vaccine uses mRNA to encode for a protein found on the surface of SARS Co-V2 within which the immune system will then recognize as Covid-19 and will produce antibodies that protect against the virus. Moderna is one of the two vaccines that uses mRNA technology in their vaccine. This will be the first product that Moderna has gotten approved by the FDA and it'll be the second mRNA medicine ever licensed. The Moderna vaccine also can be stored between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for 30 days or negative 20 degrees Celsius for six months.

The Novavax vaccine is another company in the running and is known as the underdog in this race. Their vaccine referred to as VXCOV-2373 works from perfusion of protein antigens derived from genetic sequence of SARS Co-V2 spike protein adjuvanted with Novavax proprietary Matrix M. This vaccine induces antibodies that block binding of the S protein to these cellular receptors in the human body and provide protection from infection and disease. The efficacy data for this vaccine will not be available until the first quarter of 2021 but now it is showing between 62 to 90% efficacy rates. The storage of this vaccine only requires regular refrigeration between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius which is a bonus for this regimen.

Now the top dog in this race is BioNTech Pfizer who already has their first doses being distributed in the United Kingdom. Their vaccine known as BNT-162B2 will be used in Britain first. Once approved by the US, 6.4 million doses will be delivered within 24 hours to disperse throughout the states. This regimen also requires two shots three weeks apart. Pfizer also uses mRNA and was the first company to get it licensed and has 95% efficacy seven days after the second dose. Pfizer expects to deliver 50 million vaccines in 2020 and 1.3 billion in 2021. This company also did not receive any federal funding to go towards the development of this vaccine and began making this product under their own accord. Storage for this vaccine is a little bit trickier. It needs to be stored at negative 70 degrees Celsius and must be transported in dry ice plus it can only be in the fridge for five days before it goes bad. This vaccine was developed in 10 months and it takes 28 days to develop full immunity. The regimen is 2 injections 21 days apart and by day 28 full immunity is achieved according to recent trials. This vaccine like the Moderna vaccine uses its genetic molecule called the RNA to create a viral protein and then the immune system creates antibodies to attack it.

Whereas all five companies developed a vaccine and trials have been completed there is still much skepticism in the dependability and efficiency of these vaccines.

Typically it takes anywhere from 5 to 10 years to generate a vaccine that is legal and safe and all these companies have rushed through trials as quickly as possible to develop and deliver a vaccine that can stop the death toll worldwide from increasing. All five companies will continue trials even after production of vaccines have been developed and dispersed so that we can develop a safer vaccine and make improvements depending on the outcome of each individual vaccine.

The best advice anyone can give is to properly educate yourselves on anything you would put in or around your body including the prevention of sickness and illness when diseases are concerned. There is still a lot of things to be learned about each vaccine and as scary as a pandemic is, fear should not be the driving reason to take or not take a vaccine. As pertinent information develops, continue to follow up with each company and the information needed about their vaccine in order to properly deliberate on your choice to take one.

Sources

Astrazenica

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03326-w

Jansen

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.europeanpharmaceuticalreview.com/news/135379/ema-begins-rolling-review-of-janssens-covid-19-vaccine-candidate/amp/

https://www.biopharma-reporter.com/Article/2020/12/01/Johnson-Johnson-start-rolling-review-for-COVID-19-vaccine-in-Europe

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/fourth-large-scale-covid-19-vaccine-trial-begins-united-states

Moderna

https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/30/moderna-covid-19-vaccine-full-results/

https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-announces-longer-shelf-life-its-covid-19-vaccine

Novavax

https://ir.novavax.com/news-releases/news-release-details/novavax-announces-covid-19-vaccine-clinical-development-progress

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/11/30/2136318/0/en/Novavax-Announces-COVID-19-Vaccine-Clinical-Development-Progress.html

https://ir.novavax.com/news-releases/news-release-details/novavax-announces-positive-phase-1-data-its-covid-19-vaccine

https://www.biospace.com/article/underdog-novavax-fast-tracked-to-start-covid-19-phase-iii-trials-this-month-/

Pfizer/BioNTech

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/uk-coronvirus-vaccine-pfizer-nhs/2020/12/04/a4e17584-35a8-11eb-9699-00d311f13d2d_story.html%3foutputType=amp

https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against

https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-conclude-phase-3-study-covid-19-vaccine

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/health-55145696

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/live/2020/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine.amp.html