Three vaccines COVID-19 have been approved for use by several national regulators. No WHO EUL/PQ authorisation has yet been acquired but by the end of December and shortly thereafter we foresee the Pfizer vaccine evaluation for any more candidates.
Wide trials of five vaccine candidates, including three (both Moderna and AstraZeneca)) were announced publicly through press releases, but only one (AstraZeneca) published findings in the peer reviewed literature. The results were reported publicly in the newspapers. , In the near future, we foresee more of those studies. Additional applicants are expected to be referred for approval by the regulatory authorities. There are already a significant number of possible candidates for COVID-19 vaccine.
Once vaccinations are proven safe and reliable, National authorities have to approve them, produce and administer them in compliance with rigorous requirements.
WHO works with collaborators globally to assist in organizing crucial measures in this process, including the facilitation of an equal access to billions of people who will need healthy and reliable COVID 19 vaccines.
The world is starting to adopt the first COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines can be delivered prior to COVID-19:
-In wide (phase III) clinical trials, vaccines must be proven safe and reliable. A variety of major clinical trials have shown promising preliminary results for COVID-19 candidates, and several other possible vaccines have also been produced.
A series of independent effectiveness and safety checks, including regulatory approvals, are required, before WHO accepts a pre-qualification vaccine product in the country where the vaccine is made. The Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Protection also forms part of this process.
-In addition, information shall be analyzed for the benefit of the policy recommendations regarding how to use vaccines as well as for review of the results for regulatory purposes.
-External advisory committees called the Stratégic Review Committee of Immunization Experts (SAGE) are coordinated by WHO to discuss the outcomes of clinical trials, as well as data on the epidemic, affected age ranges, disease risk factors and other facts. Then the panel advises that the vaccines be used and how.
-In the form of WHO guidelines, officers in particular states determine whether or not to approve national vaccinations and create strategies to use the vaccines in their nations.
-The vaccines must be developed in vast amounts, which presents an important and unparalleled obstacle - as all the other important vaccines that are currently in use continue to be produced.
-As a final stage, all licensed vaccines are supplied by a complicated logistical mechanism that involves stringent stock management and regulation of temperature.
-Vaccines of an inactivated or weakened virus and use an inactivated or weakened virus that does not cause any illness but also induces an immune response.
-Protein based vaccines which are used to safely induce an immune reaction using harmless bits of protein or protein shell imitating the COVID-19 virus.
Viral-vector vaccines that use a genetically modified virus to avoid infection but produce coronavirus proteins to produce an immune response safely.
-RNA and DNA vaccines, a cutting-edge process that produces an immune response protein using genetically modified RNA or DNA.
WHO is cautious about the successful production of safe and reliable COVID-19 vaccines. Potential vaccines have been robustly developed, and some clinical trials based on promising early results have already been completed (phase III).
We cannot be positive for the moment, though, whether or when a vaccine COVID-19 is present. Therefore, we must not employ a potential vaccine to protect off this pandemic – we must use all instruments now available to us, such as monitoring, touch detection and physical distancing and use of masks. This include considerations such as vaccine efficacy; how easily it is licensed, developed and delivered; and how many people are vaccinated.
Some scientists expect COVID-19 vaccines to be not 100% successful, as with most other vaccines. The World Health Organisation aims to help ensure that licensed vaccines are as safe as possible so that they are the most effective in the pandemic. If COVID-19 vaccinations have long-term security, it is too early to determine. To answer this question, more study is required. It is reassuring, though, that the available evidence show that many people who recover from COVID-19 develop an immune response that gives at least a duration of reinfection protection - but we never know how good and how long this protection lasts.
WHO cooperates with collaborators internationally to speed up all steps of this process and to ensure that the highest security requirements are also followed.