France, UK regulators approve Moderna vaccine in race against Covid-19
- by Joy Garcia
- in Medicine
- — Jan 9, 2021
The two strains share a mutation known as N501Y that scientists worry could allow the virus to evade the immune protection generated by a vaccine.
In the past week, Moderna and AstraZeneca have collectively announced multiple authorizations for use of their respective vaccines.
She noted the situation is grim in Canada, with more than 7,500 new patients diagnosed every day, more than 77,700 people now infected with the virus, and more than 4,000 infected people in the nation's hospitals.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can neutralize scary variants of the coronavirus, the companies said Friday, basing their hopeful findings on lab experiments that used antibodies from participants in late-stage trials. They are also characterised by other, different viral mutations.
Fortin adds that another 170,000 doses are expected during the first week of February, then delivery will begin to scale up.
A major advantage of the AstraZeneca vaccine over the American-German Pfizer or American Moderna vaccine is the storage conditions.
"Today's approval brings more encouraging news to the public and the healthcare sector", Dr. June Raine, chief executive of Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said in the statement.
South Africa buys 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine
Their clinical trial revealed the vaccine was up to 90% effective, depending on the initial dosage. South Africa has now seen more than 1.1 million cases since the virus first arrived in March.
Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and NHS medical director for primary care, said: "GPs, nurses, pharmacists and countless other staff and volunteers have been working around the clock to be able to launch nearly 200 more sites this week".
The scientists then compared how well blood taken from 20 people who had received the vaccine fended off the mutated form of the virus versus an earlier form.
He urged the public to follow the lockdown restriction rules, as combined with the new vaccines, it increases the chances of normality sooner rather than later.
The Ottawa Hospital says some pre-booked appointments for health-care workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine will be cancelled because the hospital is running out of the vaccine.
A new study provides early evidence that a Covid-19 vaccine might be effective against two new coronavirus strains first identified in South Africa and the United Kingdom, despite a concerning mutation.
"These data don't suggest a need for a change, but the mutations are hitting close enough to home that we need to be prepared", Dormitzer said. The CDC says the study shows why it's important for everyone to behave as if they could transmit the virus, whether they are sick or not. Nevertheless, for now, the findings are still limited so we can not be too confident.
