14.11.2020
12:08
This was confirmed by its director, Guido Rasi, who pointed out that if “the data is solid” they will be able to begin distribution in January 2021
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COVID-19 vaccine. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Archive
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The European Medicines Agency ( EMA ) predicts to approve a first vaccine against the coronavirus “between now and the end of the year” for distribution “from January” 2021 , its director, the Italian, reported on Saturday. Guido Rasi .
“If the data are solid, we will be able to give the green light to the first vaccine by the end of the year and begin distribution from January, ” Rasi said in an interview published this Saturday in the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore .
The EMA's mission is to authorize and control medicines in the European Union . The European Commission is in charge of providing the final approval that allows laboratories to market their medicine throughout the block.
The agency, which is committed to ” 6 or 7″ different vaccines in 2021 , received last Friday “the first clinical data from Pfizer for its vaccine,” said the Italian. “We have received the preclinical data from AstraZeneca, the data from the animal trials that are already being evaluated and finally we have had several discussions with Moderna, ” explained the director.
The Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Guido Rasi. EFE / EPA / ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN / Archive
If a vaccine can begin to be distributed in January, its first effects on the spread of the virus ” will be visible in five or six months, essentially next European summer ,” Rasi said.
“It is clear that it will not be possible to vaccinate everyone, but we will start with the most exposed categories, such as the elderly and health workers, which will begin to block transmission bridges, ” said the head of the agency, who considers that ” more than half” of the European population must be vaccinated to ” attend a decline in the pandemic” , which will require “at least 500 million doses in Europe”.
” It will take at least a year” to vaccinate everyone and “if all goes well by the end of 2021, we will have sufficient immunization,” Rasi concluded.
This week, the United States and Russia announced that their vaccines against the COVID-19 disease presented successful results that lead to believe that their approval and subsequent distribution is close to completion.
The US pharmaceutical Pfizer said last Monday that its coronavirus vaccine is “90% effective “, according to the first interim analysis of its phase 3 trial, the last stage before formally requesting its approval.
REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration / Archive
This protective efficacy against the SARS-CoV-2 virus was achieved seven days after the second dose of vaccine and 28 days after the first , the company said in a joint statement with the German company BioNTech. Due to the recent start of studies, it is not possible to know how long the immunity lasts.
While Russia assured last Wednesday that its Sputnik V vaccine reached 92% effectiveness in the first tests of phase 3 and that “there were no unexpected adverse events during the trials . “ The calculation was based on 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19 divided between the vaccinated people and those who received the placebo.
Sputnik-V vaccine. REUTERS / Tatyana Makeyeva
“Efficacy was demonstrated on the basis of a first interim analysis obtained 21 days after the first injection. There were no unexpected adverse events during the trials. The follow-up of the participants is ongoing, ”the Gamaleya National Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) reported in a press release.
The efficacy figure for both vaccines is notoriously high , considering that some specialists had announced that a formula that achieves 60% immunization would already be a positive result to face the pandemic.
WITH INFORMATION FROM AFP
