Pfizer, Moderna lead COVID-19 vaccine race

On November 17, 2019, the first COVID-19---then called 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)--case was recorded in Hubei Province, China. A year later, the virus has spread globally with over 56M total cases and 1.3M deaths. Still without an approved vaccine, it is expected that the number of cases will continue to rise in the coming months.

Pfizer and Moderna recently announced the existence of a possible COVID-19 vaccine with over 90% effectiveness against the virus (Photo from: Hospital and Healthcare Management)

Luckily, research groups all around the world have been working overtime in creating a vaccine that would combat the effects of COVID-19. In fact, Moderna and Pfizer have recently announced to the public their respective trial results for a possible COVID-19 vaccine which, according to them, is over 90% effective against the COVID-19-causing virus, SARS-CoV-2.

On November 9, 2020, Pfizer publicized preliminary trial results for an mRNA-based vaccine candidate developed with BioNTech stating a 90% effectiveness against the virus. The final trial results for BNT162b2 were announced on November 18, 2020 with the vaccine’s effectiveness going up to 95%.

Moderna, on the other hand, also released an update on the vaccine the company is working on alongside the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) stating that their vaccine is 94.5% effective against COVID-19. This vaccine candidate, called mRNA-1273 combines Moderna’s mRNA delivery platform with NIAID’s stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike immunogen.

Both the aforementioned vaccine candidates are said to be effective after analysis of results from the Phase 3 trials of Pfizer and Moderna respectively. Furthermore, both BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 were administered to patients twice with the former having the second dose after three weeks and the latter having the second dose after 28 days.

Currently, Pfizer and BioNTech are planning to apply for emergency use authorization of BNT162b2 from the US Food and Drug Administration. If approved, the company is expected to produce 50M doses of the vaccine this year and 1.3B doses next year.

How Does The Vaccine Work?

Both BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 are mRNA vaccines that have to be administered twice for greater vaccine efficacy against SARS-Cov-2. Unlike other vaccines where a weakened or inactivated germ is injected into the body, these mRNA vaccines allow the encoding of a harmless spike protein, which is akin to that of the COVID-19-causing virus, through the muscle cells in the upper arm.

“The mRNA vaccines use directly the mRNA of the antigen and let the cells translate it into the antigen to stimulate the immune cells,” said Mr. Marvin Pelovello, Professor in Chemistry at UP Manila. Further, he said that these mRNA vaccines do not need any plasmid vectors for delivery upon comparison with DNA vaccines that usually need bacterial plasmids as vectors for delivery.

Since the immune system considers the aforementioned protein as a foreign object, it will start making antibodies as an immune response against the viral protein. With these mRNA vaccines, people can get protection against SARS-CoV-2 without first getting sick with COVID-19.

One of the biggest challenges about mRNA vaccines is the possibility of them breaking apart when exposed to non-optimal storage temperatures. BNT162b2 requires a storage temperature of -94℉ or -70℃ and when exposed to temperatures slightly above freezing, it will degrade in approximately five days.

Moderna, on the other hand, claims that mRNA-1273 can remain stable at normal refrigerator temperatures of 2℃ to 8℃ for up to 30 days, and may be stored for up to six months at standard freezer temperatures of about -20℃.

How Does This Affect the Philippines?

The Philippines recorded its first COVID-19 case on January 30, 2020 with the first local transmission being reported on March 7 of the same year. Currently, the Department of Health (DOH) reports a total of 415 067 cases and 8 025 deaths as of November 20.

With the recent updates on having a COVID-19 vaccine soon, DOH, through the press briefing of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, assures the Filipinos that the government can readily procure doses as long as the vaccines are evaluated and approved by the country’s Food and Drug Administration.

It has been known that President Rodrigo Duterte has been banking on the availability of a vaccine as a means to control the continuously increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country. According to him, he [the government] has set aside 2.5B in the 2021 national budget to be allocated to the procurement of 1M COVID-19 vaccines. This proposed budget is 10B less than the estimated amount needed by the DOH to vaccinate at least 20% of the population.

Given the current status of the vaccine candidates by Pfizer and Moderna, only 500 000 Filipinos will be vaccinated since the vaccine needs to be administered twice. This is only roughly 0.47% of the current total Philippine population.

Additionally, the number of doses that the government can procure given the allotted budget will be far less than the expected number as funding for storage facilities need to be considered as well.

“I hope that in this budget, additional storage equipment is included, aside from storage facilities. Hospitals usually have these equipment but these might not be enough since the government is trying to procure a million doses,” said Mr. Pelovello.

The country’s private sector has already started to chip in to ensure the procurement of one to two million doses for the Filipinos. Moreover, the government is expected to apply for a loan again, this time worth $300M, to increase the budget for the vaccines.

Assuming that the Philippines does manage to procure vaccines next year, the President wants soldiers and policemen to get vaccinated first which means there will be less doses for the frontliners, the patients, and the vulnerable.

However, despite the supposed availability of funds, President Duterte said that the country still can’t make reservations for the vaccines as other countries have already placed reservations beforehand.

“How long? In due time. It’s not that we don’t want to buy. There’s still nothing for us to buy,” the President said in his pre-recorded address aired last November 10. The question now is: when exactly is “in due time?”