BMJ British Medical Journal
Editorials
Covid-19: an opportunity to reduce unnecessary healthcare
BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2752 (Published 14 July 2020)
Cite this as: BMJ 2020;370:m2752
Re: Covid-19: an opportunity to reduce unnecessary healthcare
Dear Editor
Vaccines for COVID-19
Introduction of vaccines to prevent COVID-19 may help to overcome some unnecessary health care burden.
Scientists around the world are working on potential treatments and vaccines for the new coronavirus disease known as COVID-19.
Researchers around the world are developing more than 165 vaccines against the coronavirus, and 27 vaccines are in human trials. Vaccines typically require years of research and testing before reaching the clinic, but scientists are racing to produce a safe and effective vaccine by next year for COVID-19.
The potential vaccines are first administered to animals in preclinical testing trials.
Then that is given to a small number of people to test safety and dosage and to confirm the immunity development in phase I safety trials.
After that the tested vaccine is given to hundreds of people, children and elderly people, in phase II expended trials to study the ability to stimulate immunity and its safety.
Then the tested vaccine is given to thousands of people and wait to see how many people become infected, compared to volunteers who received a placebo. These trials can determine if the vaccine protect against COVID-19.
Currently a vaccine in development by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is based on a chimpanzee adenovirus called ChAdOx1. Their Phase I/II trial, reported on July 20, found that the vaccine was safe, causing no severe side effects. It raised antibodies against the COVID-19 as well as other immune defenses. The vaccine is now in a Phase II/III trial in England, as well as Phase III trials in Brazil and South Africa. The project may deliver emergency vaccines by October. AstraZeneca has said their total manufacturing capacity for the vaccine, if approved, stands at two billion doses.
Serum Institute of India is planning to manufacture two-three million doses of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine by end-August.
Part of their phase III trials of this Oxford vaccine are also expected to be conducted in India next month.
In India in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology, the Indian company Bharat Biotech designed a vaccine called Covaxin based on an inactivated form of the coronavirus. When the company launched Phase I/II trials in July, reports circulated that the vaccine would be ready by August 15. But now it seems that it would be available no sooner than early 2021.
Regulators in each country review the trial results and decide whether to approve the vaccine or not. During a pandemic, a vaccine may receive emergency use authorization before getting formal approval.
Competing interests: No competing interests
25 July 2020
M.A. Aleem
Emeritus Professor of Neurology * Visiting Specialist in Neurology ** Consultant Neurologist ***
The Tamilnadu Dr.M.G.R. Medical University * Dhanalakshami Srinivasan Medical College ** ABC Hospital ***
Chennai 600032* Perambalure 621212** Trichy 620018*** Tamilnadu India
@drmaaleem
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