All About Pfizer Vaccine | UPSC

• The vaccine has been found more than 90% effective.

WHAT TYPE OF VACCINE HAVE PFIZER AND BIONTECH DEVELOPED?

• This is a vaccine that was developed using mRNA technology .

• The mRNA, in this case, is coded to tell the cells to recreate the spike protein of the novel coronavirus.
• Once the mRNA is injected into the body, the cells will use its instructions.

• Unlike several other vaccine candidates, mRNA vaccines are synthetically developed .
• They don’t need the virus to be cultivated and replicated.
• mRNA just the code for the most crucial part that the body’s immune system is to target.

WHAT DO THE EARLY RESULTS SAY?

• The trial were conducted as opposed to those participants who had only received a placebo.

• Considering that the US FDA as well as several international regulators have suggested that a vaccine has to be able to protect at least 50% of those receiving it.
• Thus the findings in Pfizer and BioNTech’s case seem promising.
• The results demonstrate that our mRNA-based vaccine can help prevent Covid-19 in the majority of people.
• This means we are one step closer to an end of this global pandemic.

• So far in phase 3  43,538 participants have enrolled, 38,955 of whom had received a second dose as of November 8.

VACCINE APPROVAL IN U.S.

• Not necessarily the vaccine will get an approval.
• The interim results released today were of only 94 out of nearly 40,000 volunteers who were injected with the vaccine candidate.

• More data on safety is also needed . Pfizer and BioNTech are currently accumulating this additional safety data.
• It is estimated that it will take until the third week of November for the company to accumulate safety data .
• Another mRNA candidate, by US firm Moderna has also been a frontrunner in the race of vaccine
• The firm also expects the required readout from late-stage human trials later this month.

WILL INDIA GET ACCESS TO THIS VACCINE?

• So far, no.The firms have so far inked deals for hundreds of millions of doses with countries like the US, UK, Japan and the European Union region.
• The firm is expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
• Indian government had held an “initial meeting” with Pfizer’s Indian subsidiary in late August after early phase 1 data of the vaccine.
• There has been no major movement on that front since.

• India is majorly focused on five other Covid-19 vaccine candidates, being tested by Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech, Zydus Cadila.

MAJOR ROADBLOCKS

• The vaccine may run into logistical issues on account of cold storage.
• The vacccine candidate reportedly needs to be stored at temperatures below -90°F.

• This means major constraints in storage and distribution in countries like India.
• India is still mapping and scaling up its cold storage footprint to store even vaccines at refrigerated temperatures.
• Even countries with more robust cold chain systems may have to invest more to adhere to these stricter conditions.