It must not be about profiteering

There are at least eleven kinds of vaccines against the dreaded 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in advanced stages of development. All these 11 novel candidates for anti-COVID vaccines are currently in phase 3 clinical trials. This is the last step before a vaccine gets a go-signal from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorities as having passed the safe and efficacy standards for human use.

And four of these anti-COVID vaccine candidates are already underway testing after they have secured the approval of the emergency authority use (EAU) from the FDA of the United States (US). The “front-running” ones are from Pfizer of US and BioNTech of Germany; and Moderna (US), both of which have already been issued with EAU by the US-FDA. The third anti-COVID vaccine is from AstraZeneca was rolled out two weeks earlier in London after getting EAU from the FDA of the United Kingdom (UK). The fourth vaccine candidate is from Janssen Pharmaceutica, a company owned by Johnson & Johnson also of US. In similar phase 3 clinical trial is Novavax of US.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has allowed EAU following the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the WHO has recorded more than 1,690,061 million lives were lost around the world, with the US posting the highest number of COVID-related deaths.

The other novel vaccine candidates include three Chinese anti-COVID vaccines, namely, Sinovac, Sinopharm, and CanSinoBio, all of which are already approved on limited use in China. Two novel anti-COVID vaccines also on limited use are Gamaleya’s Sputnik-V, and Vektor EpiVacCorona, both from Russia.

Likewise still in phase 3 clinical trial being done in Canada is Medicago of Canada jointly with Glaxo-Smithkline (GSK) of UK that is expected to start also in US pending FDA issuance of EUA. Another anti-COVID vaccine comes from Bharat Biotech of India.

It was during our Kapihan sa Manila Bay on Dec.2 when we learned about the global efforts to develop the anti-COVID vaccines based from the Vaccine Roadmap Strategic Framework that was presented to us by designated “vaccine czar” and chief implementer of the country’s COVID-19 response, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. During the same Zoom Webinar of our Kapihan sa Manila Bay, we had also as guests presidential adviser on entrepreneurship Jose Concepcion and Ms. Zainib Sadat, president of Glaxo-Smithkline (GSK) Philippines.

Of these 11 novel vaccine candidates, Galvez cited, the Philippine government has on-going negotiations with six of their manufacturers – also in various stages – for procurement of supply, namely, Sinovac, Sputnik-V, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Pfzer, and Novavax. Galvez pointed to the anti-COVID vaccines of Sinovac and Sputnik-V from Russia as the likely “best case scenario for vaccine rollout” in our country by the first quarter of 2021 and Pfzer by third quarter next year.

President Duterte has already given our own FDA the power to issue EAU for anti-COVID vaccines once our country gets its supply wherever it comes from.

Methinks though, the first anti-COVID vaccine that would likely arrive first in our country would be those from AstraZeneca to which the Concepcion-led private sector initiative last Nov.26 has been able to put up the advance the payment for $5 per dose for 2.6 million of their anti-COVID vaccine. Galvez announced subsequently the government was able to negotiate with AstraZeneca for additional 20 million doses more.

The twin efforts of Galvez and Concepcion drew praises from GSK-Philippines president even as their own company is not actively engaged in any negotiations for their own anti-COVID vaccines as of yet. “It’s a lot responsibility on their shoulders. It’s really not very easy task. I think at the moment, the struggle there is about a few (vaccine) manufacturers that are out there and have reached the stage of offering the vaccines,” Sadat pointed out.

As if prophetic with her words, the vaccine controversy blew out in the open last week after Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. posted in his Tweeter account against unnamed somebody in government “dropped the ball” with the Pfzer negotiations.

At the onset, Sadat believes there is a need to discover more than one COVID-19 vaccine to address the magnitude of the pandemic that we have today. “There is no one single formula, or one company, or undertaking that would be able to cater to the millions of citizens globally and the partnerships between companies, regulators, national governments, and communities is now more important than ever before,” Sadat stressed.

“So it will not be an option where you have the vaccines available for the whole country at the same point in time. So it will be phased approach and very prioritize approach towards vaccination,” Sadat cited, adding: ”I really salute them (Galvez and Concepcion) in this process.”

According to her, there are about a hundred of different vaccines companies in the pharmaceutical industry around the world that are looking at manufacturing anti-COVID vaccines. She looks forward to that time there will be more availability of anti-COVID vaccines soon. “There is a place for everyone. It’s is really not a competition. For us, this is really not about business. It’s not about one company getting the business with the other. It’s really about coming in and supporting in this global pandemic with as many vaccines as available,” she pointed out.

Speaking for GSK-Philippines, Sadat disclosed they have a commitment of one billion doses to COVAX facility to be available for developing countries, including the Philippines, towards the middle of next year. But as of this point in time, she admitted, there is no data yet on its safety and efficacy but she looks forward to its public release early next year.

“It is really about ensuring that we actually to develop very safe and effective vaccine,” she vowed. We pray we should have them soon in our country. In a global crisis of this scale, I agree with her that it should not be about profiteering.