Fierce COVID-19 Vaccine Competition... The Key Is Safety

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Amid fierce global competition for dominance over novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines, safety concerns have been raised as side effects have occurred with some vaccines.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 2nd, a total of 42 vaccine candidates worldwide are currently undergoing clinical trial phases.

The candidates that have entered the final phase, Phase 3 clinical trials, include ▲Moderna (USA) ▲AstraZeneca and Oxford University (UK) ▲Pfizer (USA) and BioNTech (Germany) ▲Johnson & Johnson (USA) ▲CanSino Biologics (China) ▲Sinovac Biotech (China) ▲Wuhan Institute of Biological Products (China) ▲Sinopharm (China) ▲Gamaleya Research Institute (Russia) ▲Murdoch Children's Research Institute (Australia) ▲Novavax (USA), totaling 11 institutions.

Among these, side effects have been found in some vaccines. Pfizer's vaccine, considered one of the leading vaccine candidates in the United States, recently showed mild to moderate side effects in some participants during clinical trials.

Pfizer, which developed the COVID-19 vaccine together with BioNTech of Germany, announced on the 15th of last month that these results were reported after conducting Phase 3 clinical trials on about 29,000 of 44,000 volunteers. According to Pfizer, the most common side effect reported so far is fatigue.

However, Pfizer stated that the reported side effects are not at a level that raises concerns about the vaccine's safety and that the safety and tolerance of the vaccine are currently being thoroughly reviewed.

Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), said, "So far, no 'safety signals' (information about side effects that may be caused by the drug and require further investigation) have been reported."

AstraZeneca, developing a vaccine with Oxford University, temporarily halted Phase 3 trials after an unexplained illness was found in one of the clinical trial participants. AstraZeneca began Phase 3 trials last month involving about 30,000 people in the UK, USA, Brazil, and South Africa.

Local media that first reported the suspension of AstraZeneca's vaccine trials described the illness as a "suspected serious side effect," while AstraZeneca stated, "The illness may not be related to the administration of the vaccine candidate."

As side effects have been found in vaccines from major pharmaceutical companies developing COVID-19 vaccines, attention is focused on whether the vaccine development schedule will be disrupted. Russia and China have announced successful vaccine development and have even conducted actual vaccinations, but the medical community has not recognized this.

Nine pharmaceutical companies in the USA and Europe developing COVID-19 vaccines?including AstraZeneca, BioNTech and Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, and Sanofi?have pledged not to seek vaccine approval or emergency use authorization unless safety and efficacy are proven.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) expects vaccine commercialization to occur by mid-next year. WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said, "No vaccine has clearly demonstrated the 50% efficacy level that WHO aims for in the clinical trials conducted so far," adding, "We do not expect widespread vaccination to occur by mid-next year."