The second wave of coronavirus scare continues to linger on the world even as many countries have declared victory against the virus. However, there is good news coming in from different parts of the world as the vaccine race begins.
China, the epicenter of the coronavirus where the pandemic first broke out, is reportedly a frontrunner to bring the COVID-19 vaccine into the market. As per the reports, the country is looking to make the vaccine available by the end of this year. According to a report published in the official Wechat account of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, China is all set to deliver the anticipated vaccine this year.
The Beijing Institute of Biological Products and China National Biotec Group are jointly developing the vaccine that has completed phase 2 of the trial already. The production line is set to start on Saturday with a manufacturing capacity of 100-120 million vaccines every year.
More Vaccine to be out this year
In another news coming in from the American Pharmaceutical company Pfizer, the COVID-19 vaccine might be available as early as October 2020. Confirming this, the CEO of the company Albery Bourla said,
“If things go well, and the stars are aligned, we will have enough evidence of safety and efficacy so that we can have a vaccine around the end of October.”
Pfizer is currently in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with the German company BioNTech. The vaccine named ‘BNT162’ is currently undergoing tests on humans following the clinical approval. The company is reportedly developing four different types of vaccines to find out the most effective of the lot.
According to a report in the Times of Israel, the United Kingdom company AstraZeneca is also set to roll out one or more COVID-19 vaccines by the end of this year. The CEO of the company Pascal Soriot confirmed the same. The company has been teamed up with the University of Oxford to develop the vaccine that is based on the weakened strain of adenovirus.
The United States-based Biotech company Moderna Inc is ahead in the COVID-19 vaccine race as it finished its stage-1 clinical trials last week and is set to begin the stage-2 soon.
Source: India Times