Coronavirus Breaking News

The Africa Vaccine Acquisition TaskTeam [AVATT] announced that it had received an offer of 300 million Sputnik V vaccines from the Russian Federation. This includes a financing package for any member states wishing to secure this vaccine.

Meanwhile, AVATT, which the 55 Member African Union established, advises that the 270 million doses previously secured from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson were all taken up by the first allocation phase deadline through the African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP).

While details, including clinical and technical information, are now accessible on the AMSP, Sputnik V vaccines will be available for a period of 12 months commencing by May 2021.

“The Sputnik V vaccine from the Russian Federation is now available on the AMSP for the consideration of our AU Member States,” said Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in a press statement issued on February 19, 2021. “Bilateral and private sector partnerships such as this aid our efforts to bringing the COVID-19 pandemic to an end.”

Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) is an adenoviral-based vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Sputnik V uses a weakened virus to deliver small parts of a pathogen and stimulate an immune response.

Reuters reported Bharat Biotech announced on February 18, 2021, the India-based company is in the process of filing regulatory documents for approval of its COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, in more than 40 countries.

Covaxin (BBV152) is an experimental vaccine created by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Covaxin is a whole virion-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, developed from a well-known SARS-CoV-2 strain and a Vero cell platform (CCL-81) with adjuncts aluminum hydroxide gel (Algel) or a novel TLR7/8 agonist adsorbed gel.

Previously, Pennsylvani-based Ocugen, Inc. and Bharat Biotech announced on February 2, 2021, they have entered into a definitive agreement to codevelop, supply, and commercialize Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN for the United States market.

In preparation for the development of Covaxin in the USA, Ocugen’s Vaccine Scientific Advisory Board and Ocugen management have initiated discussions with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to develop a regulatory path to authorization in the USA.

Additionally, Ocugen is in active discussions with manufacturers to produce a significant number of doses of Covaxin to support its USA immunization program.

Fujiwara Yasuhiro, M.D., Ph.D., the Chief Executive Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, announced on February 14, 2021, the first COVID-19 vaccine applied by Pfizer Japan Inc. was granted Special Approval for Emergency in Japan.

Pfizer Japan Inc. submitted the Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine application on December 18, 2020.

With this Special Approval for Emergency, Japanese citizens can now start Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccination with prioritization to protect themselves against SARS-CoV-2. Special Approval for Emergency is the process under article 14-3 of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act to approve a medical product swiftly in an emergency situation to protect public health.

The Agency confirmed 'intensive post-approval activities are planned to be carried out. For example, all vaccination cases to 10,000-20,000 healthcare workers, who are prioritized to receive vaccination first, will be followed up for symptoms and illnesses for about 1 month after vaccination. Also, a post-vaccination health status survey will be conducted in a questionnaire form in general vaccine recipients with prior informed consent. Results of these activities and other routine post-approval measures will be released publicly once available.'

A recent study from South Korea showed that the less-invasive saliva test for COVID-19 gives just as accurate results as those of the nasopharyngeal specimen.

Published on February 15, 2021, a research team at the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Kangwon National University School of Medicine, led by Professor In-bum Suh, carried out the PCR test for COVID-19 on 90 hospitalized individuals with suspected COVID-19, both with saliva and nasopharyngeal methods.

As a result, both 'Allplex™ SARS-CoV-2 Assay' and 'Allplex™ SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB/RSV Assay' proved the saliva and nasopharyngeal test's percentage agreement for detecting COVID-19 was over 98.8%.

The research team also conducted a separate study on the extraction-free application, one without the nucleic acid extraction step, and found the percentage agreement between Seegene's extraction-free saliva test and extraction-free nasopharyngeal swab test to be over 96%.

In other words, the extraction-free method using saliva sampling would be just as applicable for the PCR test in detecting SARS-CoV-2.

Professor Suh stated in a press release, "the study has "clearly proven that saliva tests are just as accurate and effective as nasopharyngeal tests in precisely diagnosing COVID-19."

Generally, in COVID-19 PCR tests, the nucleic acid extraction process is considered a prerequisite to isolate and purify nucleic acid from specimens. Depending on the circumstances, however, some countries may not be fully equipped to carry out the extraction process. Despite a surge in testing capacity, some even face reagent shortages, eventually leading many laboratories to resort to an extraction-free method, concluded this study.

South Africa’s health ministry stated that the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers had submitted documentation to local medicines regulator SAHPRA for registration, reported Reuters.

SAHPRA is tasked with regulating (monitoring, evaluating, investigating, inspecting, and registering) all health products. This includes clinical trials, complementary medicines, medical devices, and in-vitro diagnostics.

Sputnick V is a vector vaccine based on adenovirus DNA, in which the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus gene is integrated. Adenovirus is used as a “container” to deliver the coronavirus gene to cells and start the synthesis of the new coronavirus's envelope proteins, “introducing” the immune system to a potential enemy.

The United Kingdom (UK) announced on February 14, 2021, 'that everyone in the country's four priority groups had been offered a vaccine. Furthermore, over 15 million people had been given the first vaccine dose.'

According to the UK's Prime Minister Johnson's video message posted on Twitter, this 'means over-65s and younger people who are "clinically vulnerable" will now be offered the COVID-19 vaccine. The UK's HNS offers an online vaccine appointment scheduling service available at the NHS link.

According to Our World in Data, the USA leads all other countries with over 52 million vaccine doses administered, followed by China with 40.5 million, and the UK with 15.6 million doses administered.

According to Our World in Data reporting, the USA leads all other countries with over 50 million vaccine doses administered, followed by China with 40.5 million, and the UK with 15.9 million doses administered as of February 13, 2021.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 37,056,122 first-dose vaccines had been administered in the USA, and the number of people receiving 2 vaccine doses has reached 13,082,172.

The states of California, Texas, and Florida have administered the most COVID-19 vaccines as of February 13th.

Globally, there are nine different COVID-19 vaccines authorized by various countries.

These experimental vaccines are based on innovative technologies, such as DNA, RNA, virus-like particle, peptide, viral vector, recombinant protein, live attenuated virus, and inactivated virus approaches.