INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Pharma companies are madly competing with each other when it comes to finding the first effective vaccine against COVID-19
Because of its topical importance, this race is not just between corporate companies alone
It has expanded to being a global competition between various countries (at both centre and state levels) invoking geo-politics
sheer volume of expected sales for such a vaccine at the moment is breathtaking
Hence it is not a surprise that many companies want to win this jackpot
the production of these life saving vaccines
International agencies like the UN and International Court of Justice should consider intervening, if necessary, to give a level playing
against COVID.Vaccine Stockpiling Rich and prosperous countries are giving advance orders to stockpile hundreds of millions of doses in
prices by richer countries could ensure prices for vaccines not to drop in near future
This in turn would not make life easier for poorer countries
This pandemic and global vaccination drive is going to bring in a multi-faceted economics problem as well.Who Pays for Vaccines: Government
or People?In health insurance driven countries, it is still unclear whether insurance companies would take care of the costs or whether
their citizens will have to pay an additional premium for getting vaccinated
In European countries, there is no full clarity as to whether the state would bear all the costs for vaccinating the entire population
severity of the circumstances, companies are requesting the FDA for an early deployment of vaccines even before the clinical trials end
The scientific data provided by these companies thus far show that their respective vaccines are indeed effective
However, the current clinical trials being carried out are not double blind, and therefore there is an ethical responsibility to let the
saving drug and its sales plus distribution should be considered from a humanitarian point of view
It should not be used as a tool for making exorbitant profits by companies to exploit the poor and needy
Shailaja Teacher,Minister of Health and Social Welfare for KeralaWhile vaccine availability will be one end-point, we should remember that
distributing vaccines will take time and that we will need to maintain restrictions around physical distancing and masks for a good while to
Centre/State CooperationIn highly populated countries like India, it is going to be a huge budgetary challenge to inoculate more than a
It is still not clear how the centre and state are going to share these huge costs
Generous donations from philanthropists might only cover some tens of millions of doses inside India which is still a small fraction of our
Besides all this, even political parties are trying to score brownie points as to where and when free vaccines will be given
It is not yet clear whether only the healthcare workers will be vaccinated or whether the whole general population will be included for free
inoculation.Vaccine Administering ChallengesIn addition to direct costs of vaccines, there will be added logistical costs regarding its
transportation, storage, administering etc
Some states have more robust health care systems than others
retaining the efficacy of vaccines from point of manufacture to point of administering
Feasible cold chain management plays a key role in selecting one vaccine over a list of other available vaccines
Massive transportation and storage at a permissible range of deep freezing temperatures is a massive challenge in countries like
animal models (pre-clinical validation)
Only the most promising will be carried on in a clinical trial
If the response to the vaccine is good (no severe side effect but a good immune response), the number will scale up involving hundreds
(phase II) and later thousands of volunteers (phase III)
The volunteers for phase III should be chosen in countries in which the virus is actively circulating because, to calculate the efficacy of
the vaccine, you need to compare the number of infections in the vaccine group with the one in the placebo group
Only when the agency gives the final approval, the vaccine is considered safe enough to be introduced in the population as part of the
Never in history a vaccine reached phase III in such a short amount of time
That was possible because of new technologies available but mostly because the urgency of the situation justified a huge investment of
money, a simplification of bureaucracy and the redirection of many resources to this project (putting on hiatus many other research
But as efficient as the system can be, there is still a physiological time that needs to be respected: to mount an immune response after the
circumstance, it will help to instill more confidence and less fear in the minds of the general public and COVID victims
However fast tracking this comes with its fair share of cons too
The scientific data provided by these companies thus far show that their respective vaccines are indeed effective, and an early release
those which have just started
The current clinical trials being carried out are not double blind, and therefore there is an ethical responsibility to let the volunteer
context because the demand and pressure are unprecedented from various interest groups
If too many volunteers cross over, the study might not have sufficiently large control groups to obtain statistically significant results
