Latest Updates on The Covid-19 Vaccines

We are holding high hopes for 2021, and we are kissing 2020 its huge goodbye at the end of this year, wishing the Covid-19 pandemic just leaves the way it came. Taking into consideration that the virus ain’t leaving on its own, the vaccines updates are on our radar. With many researchers already announcing the efficacy and safety of their vaccine, and while we are here waiting, let’s take a look on the latest updates.

Here's where things stand with the development of coronavirus vaccines.

Moderna
 

Massachusetts-based company, Moderna, reported promising results from its coronavirus vaccine trial, saying it is 94.5% effective. The scientists randomly assigned volunteers to get either the Moderna vaccine, or the placebo.

In details, independent experts took a look at the first 95 participants who got sick. Ninety of them had received the placebo, and only five had been given the vaccine, noting that they only experienced mild symptoms.

This vaccine remains stable at 2° to 8°C (36° to 46°F), the temperature of a standard home or medical refrigerator, for 30 days.

And that is why the US government provided $1 billion in support for the design and testing of the Moderna vaccine.

Pfizer/BioNTech

Pfizer and Moderna are similar not only because they use mRNA but also because they coax our cells to make the same viral protein, called spike. Pfizer, which announced earlier a 90% effective vaccine, has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the U.S. and five other countries. 94 infections were recorded so far and some participants got the vaccine, while others got dummy shots.

The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine needs to be stored at minus 70 Celsius.

The company, just like Moderna, is on track to apply later this month for emergency-use approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Although Pfizer has its own advance purchase agreement for its vaccine, it did not take Operation Warp Speed money to support its design or testing.

Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies
 

Johnson & Johnson is in its phase 3 trials which enroll 60 thousand volunteers. The company announced "positive interim results" regarding safety and efficacy from the phase 1/phase 2 clinical trial.

Johnson & Johnson's Janssen experimental COVID-19 vaccine, called Ad26, is developed from a weakened adenovirus and is given to volunteers as a single dose. The company is planning to conduct another phase 3 trial to test two doses.

Sanofi

The COVID-19 vaccine candidate is being tested using vital ingredients. Sanofi is developing the antigen (the protein that stimulates the body’s immune response against the virus), which is based on recombinant DNA technology. What makes it a better candidate? It’s that it doesn’t need the super-cooling temperature, which makes it favorable for some countries."Our vaccine will be like the flu vaccine, you can keep it in your refrigerator," Sanofi France chief Olivier Bogillot.