Three pharmaceutical companies successively announced last week they have vaccines that are shown to be highly effective against the coronavirus. On Tuesday, Russia released new results claiming its experimental Covid-19 vaccine was highly effective. On Wednesday, Bloomberg news reported that a leading Chinese vaccine developer has applied for authorization to bring its Covid-19 shot to the market, seeking to get a jump on Western rivals as the race for a working inoculation against the virus enters the final stretch.
According to the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which bankrolled the development of the vaccine, Sputnik V will cost less than $10 per dose on international markets—or less than $20 for the two doses needed to vaccinate one person. The two-shot vaccine, the Fund said in a statement, will be “two or more times cheaper” than those by Pfizer or Moderna, which cost about $20 and $15 to $25 per dose, respectively, based on agreements the companies have struck to supply their vaccines to the US government. No price was given for the Chinese vaccine.
AstraZeneca, which has pledged it won’t make a profit on the vaccine during the pandemic, has reached agreements with governments and international health organizations that put its cost at about $2.50 per dose. Here’s AstraZeneca’s edge as far as developing countries are concerned: While its vaccine can be stored at 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius (36 degrees to 46 degrees Fahrenheit), the Pfizer and Moderna products must be stored at freezer temperatures. In Pfizer’s case, it must be kept at the ultra-cold temperature of around minus-70 degrees Celsius (minus-94 Fahrenheit).
Dr. Andrew Pollard, chief investigator for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine trial, said at a news conference: “Because the vaccine can be stored at fridge temperatures, it can be distributed around the world using the normal immunization distribution system. And so our goal…to make sure that we have a vaccine that was accessible everywhere, I think we’ve actually managed to do that.”
Reassuring, too, are the statements made by leaders of the world’s most powerful nations when they wrapped up the Group of 20 summit on Sunday, vowing to spare no effort to protect lives and ensure affordable access to Covid-19 vaccines for all people. The G-20 statement said: “We will spare no effort to ensure their affordable and equitable access for all people, consistent with members’ commitments to incentivize innovation.” The G-20 also expressed support for efforts like COVAX, an international initiative to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to countries worldwide. The US, however, has declined to join under President Donald J. Trump.
From the Associated Press: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday Canada will have to wait for a vaccine because the very first ones that roll off assembly lines are likely to be given to citizens of the country they are made in. Trudeau said the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany have mass vaccine-production facilities but Canada does not.
Trudeau said it is understandable that an American pharmaceutical company will distribute first in the US before they distribute internationally. “Shortly afterwards they will start honoring and delivering the contracts that they signed with other countries including Canada,” Trudeau said. “We’re expecting to start receiving those doses in the first few months of 2021.”
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said earlier this month that supplies of Covid-19 vaccine will most likely arrive in the Philippines by the end of 2021 or in early 2022. President Duterte earlier said that his goal is for the government to shoulder Covid-19 vaccination for every Filipino, but only P2.5 billion was allocated for Covid-19 vaccines in the proposed 2021 national budget. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III targets a P20-billion fund for the purchase of a Covid-19 vaccine through a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines.
We hope the government can raise the needed funds to procure enough vaccines to cover all 100 million Filipinos in the biggest immunization program against the deadly virus. This is of utmost importance because no Filipino is safe from Covid-19 until we are all safe. And this is true all over the world.