THERE are 165 vaccines against the coronavirus in the development stage, and there are 30 of them undergoing initial human trials, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Historically, vaccine development has an extremely low success rate. In a hundred being probed in laboratories, barely 20 of them make it to the pre-clinical trial stage. The bulk of them fizzle out as unfit even for animal trials.
Many of the leading laboratories in the Covid-19 vaccine race, despite high optimism, marked the end of the year as ideal time for a safe release. Most of their formulations started pre-clinical tests in the first quarter of this year yet. By pre-clinical, they mean the vaccine has been administered in animals to see if it triggers an immune response.
The trials undergo phases for months, starting with a safety trial on a small group of people to test safety, dosage and immune response. If successful, an expanded trial will be done on a cross section of human types—children, elderly, male, female—to see if they all develop the same quality of immune response. The third phase determines a vaccine’s efficacy by administering it to thousands of people to also see if there might be rare side effects that are missed in the earlier investigations.
The last phase would be institutional gatekeeping. In this health crisis, a coronavirus vaccine may be given emergency use authorization before a formal approval. An approval, however, does not end the researchers’ monitoring of the vaccine’s efficacy.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced his government’s approval of a vaccine, which he said has been administered with no side effects on one of his daughters.
There are sectors of scientists who have expressed skepticism over Russia’s vaccine, saying it may not have gone through the proper phases to test its safety. However, some researchers say a good number of developers have accelerated their tests by combining the phases. Although this is unprecedented in the history of vaccine development, it is nevertheless crucial in this pandemic.
Putin’s news thrilled no end his friend President Rodrigo Duterte who said he’d be willing to submit himself before anyone else for inoculation, if only to show he trusts the country’s judgment in rolling out the vaccine.
Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Igor Khovaev in a press conference said Russia is willing to supply vaccines to the Philippines. The President, meanwhile, hopes Russia would give it for free.
Although a vaccine is definitely, to use the cliché, the light at the end of the tunnel, the rest of the country may not be as enamored as the President is on Russia’s vaccine. Some are taking it with a grain of salt, and for the obvious reason that whoever gets the vaccine first will still be part of the test stage.
We do hope the Russian version succeeds, but citizens must be convinced of its safety and efficacy.