The other day it became known that the companies Pfizer and Biontech submitted applications to the US Food and Drug Administration for registration of their own vaccine. The companies said that they are ready to distribute the vaccine within a few hours after confirming the registration. Other manufacturers of vaccines are not lagging behind, and therefore in the near future we should expect ready-made vaccines against COVID-19.
What are these vaccines and when exactly will they appear in Ukraine? ElitExpert understood this
Almost done
The American company Pfizer and the German Biontech announced the full completion of the trial period of their vaccine against COVID-19, which is 95% effective in the fight against mild and severe forms of the coronavirus. The developers reported the absence of serious side effects in the vaccine and significant effectiveness in immunization of the elderly. Now it's a matter of registration - if everything goes according to plan, the companies will immediately begin mass production.
The Ukrainian authorities are trying to obtain this vaccine: the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky contacted the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and asked for help in acquiring
Pre-orders for this vaccine were made by the European Union. According to preliminary data, the cost of one dose for residents of European countries will be 18,34 dollars. How much it will cost Ukrainians is unknown, but it is certainly not cheaper than for the EU.
However, this vaccine has a significant drawback - it must be stored at a temperature of -70 degrees below zero. The vast majority of Ukrainian medical facilities do not have the necessary equipment for storage.
Another American company, Moderna, is among the leaders in vaccine production. Their drug is currently in the final stages of development. The effectiveness against coronavirus is 94,5%. The cost of one dose of the vaccine will range from 25 to 37 dollars. Despite the fact that the vaccine will be more expensive than the Pfizer and Biontech products, ideally it should be more popular, as it does not require special storage conditions. This also determines the cost.
It is known that this vaccine will also be purchased by the EU, but nothing is said about its appearance in Ukraine yet.
Who else is involved in development?
It is generally accepted that there are two ready-made vaccines in Russia: "Sputnik V" and "EpiVakCorona", however, Ukraine and the EU flatly refused to purchase them.
In China, local residents are vaccinated with an experimental vaccine - almost 1 million people have received the vaccine. It was developed by the Chinese National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). The head of the association, Liu Jizhi, said that so far there is no data on possible serious side effects of the experimental vaccine, only "mild symptoms" appear in some cases.
Great hopes were placed on the Swedish-British pharmaceutical concern AstraZeneca, however, their vaccine showed an average efficiency of 70%. However, work on it continues — with one of the methods of introduction, it showed an efficiency of 90%.
Efforts to create a vaccine were united by three large companies: Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi and GSK. They plan to get the vaccine in 2021 and immediately conquer the market, since the cost of a dose will be only 10 dollars.
In total, 47 candidate vaccines are undergoing clinical trials. 10 of them reached the third phase.
How to be in Ukraine?
As mentioned above, the Ukrainian authorities placed a bet on the vaccine from the companies Pfizer and Biontech, but this is not a reason to refuse other products. It is known that in summer and autumn our country will receive free vaccines from WHO for 10% of the population. You will have to spend a lot on the rest. Thus, according to the chief sanitary doctor Viktor Lyashko, UAH 2,6 billion will be allocated for this task. Later, he added that Kyiv is ready to buy doses for approximately 20 million Ukrainians - that is, for half of the population (what to do with the other half is not specified).
True, the specified amount and number of people do not match. The fact is that if you take the declared 2,6 billion from the budget, 130 hryvnias will be needed per person, which is a little more than four dollars. Whereas the vaccine, even according to the COVAX mechanism, is three times more expensive. And in the free sale - according to the current data, and even more. The Pfizer vaccine will cost at least $19 for two ampoules, and the Moderna vaccine will cost $65-70.
That is, the promises of the authorities do not coincide with each other, and therefore it is difficult to predict exactly when and how many vaccines Ukraine will actually purchase.
