Heena Sharma Blog

  Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have raised the prices of their Covid-19 vaccines in their latest European Union supply contracts, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The new price for the Pfizer shot was 19.50 euros ($23.15) against 15.50 euros previously, the newspaper said, citing portions of the contracts seen. The price of a Moderna vaccine was $25.50 a dose, the contracts showed, up from about 19 euros in the first procurement deal but lower than the previously agreed $28.50 because the order had grown, the report said, citing one official close to the matter. The terms of the deals —struck this year and covering up to 2.1 billion shots until 2023 —were renegotiated after Phase 3 clinical trial data showed vaccines from the two companies are more effective than some rivals, it said. The European Commission said on Tuesday that the EU is on course to hit a target of fully vaccinating at least 70 per cent of the adult population by the end of the summer. Read More

  Pfizer says it plans to meet with top US health officials Monday to discuss the drugmaker's request for federal authorization of a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine as President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser acknowledged that "it is entirely conceivable, maybe likely that booster shots will be needed. The company said it was scheduled to have the meeting with the Food and Drug Administration and other officials Monday, days after Pfizer asserted that booster shots would be needed within 12 months. Pfizer's Dr. Mikael Dolsten told The Associated Press last week that early data from the company's booster study suggests people's antibody levels jump five- to 10-fold after a third dose, compared to their second dose months earlier evidence it believes supports the need for a booster. On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci didn't rule out the possibility but said it was too soon for the government to recommend another shot. He said the Centers for Disease C...

  Amid the global shortage of the Covid-19 vaccines , a study conducted by Oxford University has found out that alternating doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines generate robust immune responses against the coronavirus. According to the study, 'mixed' schedules of these vaccines induced high concentrations of antibodies against the SARS-CoV2 spike IgG protein when doses were administered four weeks apart. This study, published on the Lancet pre-print server, means all possible vaccination schedules involving the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines could potentially be used against Covid-19. "The Com-COV study has evaluated 'mix and match' combinations of the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines to see to what extent these vaccines can be used interchangeably, potentially allowing flexibility in the UK and global vaccine roll-out," said Professor Matthew Snape, Associate Professor in Paediatrics and Vaccinology at the University of Oxf...

  Global pharma major Pfizer is sending its medicines worth USD 70 million (over Rs 510 crore), from its distribution centres in the US, Europe and Asia, that have been identified as part of India's COVID-19 treatment protocol , the company's Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said on Monday. "We are deeply concerned by the critical COVID-19 situation in India, and our hearts go out to you, your loved ones and all the people of India," he said in a mail sent to Pfizer India employees that he has shared on his linked.in post. "We are committed to being a partner in India's fight against this disease and are quickly working to mobilize the largest humanitarian relief effort in our company's history," Bourla said. Right now, Pfizer colleagues at distribution centres in the US, Europe and Asia are hard at work rushing shipments of Pfizer medicines that the Government of India has identified as part of its COVID-19 treatment protocol, he added. Read M...

  In a much-awaited move, India has allowed Covid vaccination for all above 18 years of age, starting May 1. The decision, taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, is expected to change the course of the pandemic currently raging through the country. India Inc and political parties have for long demanded the opening up of vaccination for all adults. In a departure from the current policy, the government has also allowed states to procure additional vaccine doses directly from the manufacturers. Vaccine supply to open market and industries has been permitted as well with conditions. In fact, the government will allow the imported ready-to-use vaccines to be entirely utilised in the open market. While the pricing arrangements have not been revealed, the latest announcement clubbed with the recent proposal to fast-track clearances could attract a host of foreign vaccine-makers, according to officials. Vaccination would continue free of cost in governm...

  A new study suggests that the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine can protect people against the concerning coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil. According to CNN, blood serum samples from people who had received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine "efficiently" neutralized a version of the virus engineered to carry the same mutations as the variant, known as the P.1. For the study, published by the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday, researchers at Pfizer, BioNTech and the University of Texas Medical Branch genetically engineered the virus to create versions carrying mutations found in a range of coronavirus variants, including P.1 They tested them against blood samples taken from 15 people two or 4 weeks after they had received a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as part of a clinical trial. The team found that the blood samples were able to neutralize the Brazil variant "roughly" as well as it could neutralize an earlier stra...

  The Pfizer and Oxford- AstraZeneca vaccines for COVID-19 are highly effective in reducing severe coronavirus infection among people aged 70 years and above, according to a study. The research, posted as a pre-print and yet to be peer-reviewed, estimated the effect of both the COVID-19 vaccines on laboratory confirmed symptomatic disease in individuals aged 70 years or older in England. The researchers, including those from Public Health England (PHE), compared the rate of hospitalisation and deaths in confirmed COVID-19 patients aged over 80 who were vaccinated more than 14 days before testing positive, with unvaccinated cases. Data suggests that in the over 80s, a single dose of either vaccine is more than 80 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisation, around 3 to 4 weeks after the jab, PHE said in a statement. Evidence for the Pfizer vaccine suggests that it leads to 83 per cent reduction in deaths from COVID-19, it said. Read More

  Pfizer on Friday said that it has withdrawn it's application for emergency use authorization for the Covid-19 vaccine in India. The US based drug major said that it would submit the additional information as it becomes available in the near future, The company met the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on February 3. "Based on the deliberations at the meeting and our understanding of additional information that the regulator may need, the company has decided to withdraw its application at this time. Pfizer will continue to engage with the authority and resubmit its approval request with additional information as it becomes available in the near future," a company spokesperson said. The firm had missed appearing before the SEC thrice before. It had said that short notice and time zone difference were the reasons behind it. Pfizer has not conducted any bridge trial on Indian population for its mRNA vaccine. The Indian regulator has asked foreign vaccine makers lik...

  Pharma major Pfizer on Friday said it has decided to withdraw its application for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) of its COVID-19 vaccine in India. Pfizer was the first pharmaceutical firm to seek an emergency use authorisation from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for its COVID-19 vaccine in the country, after it secured such clearance in the UK and Bahrain. "In pursuance of the Emergency Use Authorisation of its COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer participated in the Subject Expert Committee meeting of the Drug Regulatory Authority of India on February 3. Based on the deliberations at the meeting and our understanding of additional information that the regulator may need, the company has decided to withdraw its application at this time," a company spokesperson said in a statement. Pfizer will continue to engage with the authority and resubmit its approval request with additional information as it becomes available in the near future, the statement said. Read Mor...

  Pfizer and BioNTech have agreed to supply their Covid-19 vaccine to the World Health Organization co-led COVAX vaccine access scheme, two sources familiar with the deal said, the latest in a series of shots to be included in the project aimed at lower-income countries. The deal is expected to be announced on Friday, according to the sources, who declined to be named due to the confidentiality of the agreement. Details on the size of the deal or the price per dose COVAX would pay were not immediately clear, but the sources said the allotment would likely be relatively small. One source said the reason for the limited volume was that the doses were primarily meant for healthcare workers in the countries that COVAX serves. BioNTech declined to comment while Pfizer did not respond to requests for comment. Spokespeople for the WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance, which co-leads the COVAX scheme, also declined to comment. Read More

The World Health Organization says it has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, meaning poorer countries may soon get access to the shot already available in Europe and North America. Every country that has a drug regulatory agency will have to issue its own approval for any COVID-19 vaccine , but countries with weak systems usually rely on WHO to vet the shots. The global body said late Thursday that the decision to issue its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine "opens the door for countries to expedite their own regulatory approval processes to import and administer the vaccine." The UN health agency said its review found the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has already received clearance in the United States, Britain, the European Union and a dozen other countries, "met the must-have criteria for safety and efficacy set out by WHO." Read More  

  Panama's government has approved the emergency use of the vaccine produced by US company Pfizer and German company BioNTech , the delivery of the first batch is expected in the first quarter of 2021, the country's Health Ministry said. "The national government has approved the emergency use of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine ," the ministry said in a statement on Twitter. Panama expects to receive the first shipment of vaccines in the first quarter of next year and to begin immunizing the population, starting with healthcare workers, the elderly, and security personnel. According to the ministry, the country with a population of 4.2 million people has registered 194,619 cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of the epidemic, including 3,382 deaths. Read More  

  Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother from Britain, has become the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine outside of a trial following its rapid clinical approval. An early riser, Keenan received the jab at her local hospital in Coventry, central England, on Tuesday morning at 0631 GMT, a week before she turns 91. Britain began rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech on Tuesday, the first Western country to start vaccinating its general population in what was hailed as a decisive watershed in defeating the coronavirus. The mass inoculation will fuel hope that the world may be turning a corner in the fight against a pandemic that has crushed economies and killed more than 1.5 million, although ultra-cold storage and tricky logistics will limit its use for now. Read More

  Global pharma major Pfizer on Thursday said it remains committed to engaging with the Indian government to explore opportunities to makePfizer/BioNTech vaccine available in the country. The UK on Wednesday became the first country to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 with the UK regulator Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)granting a temporary authorisation for its emergency use. "Right now we are in discussions with many governments around the world and remain committed to engaging with the Government of India and explore opportunities to make this vaccine available for use in the country," a Pfizerspokesperson said in a statement. Pfizer is committed to ensuring everyone has the opportunity to have access to the vaccine,and is working closely with governments, it added. Read More

  Even as several countries were planning to roll out coronavirus vaccines as early as in December or January, doses of these vaccine were unlikely to available before early- or mid-2021, World Health Organization (WHO) Southeast Asia Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh told Business Standard. “It is hoped that if a successful vaccine is found within the next few months, enough doses will be available for countries by the end of 2021 so that those in priority populations who choose to be vaccinated have access to them,” Singh said. Even the front-runners among vaccine companies would take at least a few months to complete Phase-III trials and evaluate the efficacy and safety of individual vaccines, she said. Add to this the time taken for licensure, authorisation for use and mass production after the trials have been completed. Read More

  Coronavirus Update : The Maharashtra government has asked the authorities to ensure there is no complacency in testing and said labs should be functional in every district and municipal corporation limits. A circular from the government's health services directorate dated November 11 said a second wave of the pandemic is likely in January-February based on what is happening in Europe. If we talk of the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has pointed at pollution as a reason for the spike and hoped to control its spread in the next 7-10 days. The number of Covid-19 deaths in Delhi rose by a record high on Thursday to 104 as the city also reported the greatest number of infections (7,053) in India. Read More

  Coronavirus vaccine update : Almost a year after the highly contagious coronavirus hit the world, hopes of getting an effective vaccine soon have been raised with Pfizer, Moderna, Russia's Sputnik V, India's 'Covaxin' and the Oxford vaccine showing promising results at different stages of trials. The global Covid-19 tally has surged past 52 million and 1.2 million had died so far. The US, which is the worst-hit country, plans to start distribution of vaccines by December. Along with the US, India, France, Russia and Brazil are struggling to curb the spread of the virus. Covid vaccine progress                1. India coronavirus update : SII and ICMR complete enrolment of phase 3 trials for Oxford vaccine Covishield Serum Institute of India (SII) and ICMR on Thursday announced the completion of enrolment process of 1,600 participants in the phase-III clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine Covishield in t...