Thought of the Day - February 2 - Vaccine Wars - The Continuing Saga

Updated: Aug 6, 2021

Here is the list of vaccine approvals as of the end of January.

January 18 - EpiVacCorona Vaccine 100% Effective: Data shows the immunological efficacy of the second Russian vaccine, EpiVacCorona, developed by Vector State Virology and Biotechnology Center in Siberia, is 100%, according to the public health agency Rospotrebnadzor.
January 27 - Pfizer BioNTech Vaccine 92% Effective: Data from Israel from the 150,000 people who had received their second dose shows a 92% effectiveness, close to the 95% efficacy that Pfizer claimed from their Phase 3 trial.
January 28 - Novavax’s Vaccine Candidate Shows an Average 89.3% Efficacy: According to an interim analysis of the vaccine’s phase 3 trial in the United Kingdom, that included over 15,000 participants ages 18-84, with 27% over the age of 65, Novavax says the efficacy against the original strain is 95.6%, and 85.6% against the more transmissible UK variant (501Y / B.1.1.7).
January 29 - Johnson & Johnson’s Vaccine Candidate is 66% Effective Overall: J&J's/Janssen one-dose candidate shows 66% overall efficacy in preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 28 days after vaccination, according to new data. The vaccine also demonstrates 85% efficacy in preventing severe disease and 100% protection against hospitalization and death.

Iran has banned the import of COVID-19 vaccines from the country’s adversaries, the U.S. and U.K., calling vaccines developed in these countries “completely untrustworthy” and saying that countries could intentionally contaminate others through vaccines. As a result, Iran's Red Crescent says it will no longer accept donated doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from U.S.-based philanthropists. Iran also launched human trials of its own COVID-19 vaccine candidate last month.
The EU has finally approved AstraZeneca, however, French Prime Minister Macron made the statement that the vaccine is “quasi-ineffective on people older than 65, some say those 60 years or older", and Germany has limited its use to people under 65. The EU, who came late to the table in pre-ordering and approval, is also putting pressure on AstraZeneca to rapidly provide the vaccine, including potentially restricting shipments to the UK from their factory in Belgium. Belgium authorities also also "visited" this facility, taking records and samples, to determine if there are having any "production issues".