WHO calls for ‘fair allocation’ of vaccine after Pfizer’s positive news
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for “fair allocation” of a Covid-19 vaccine after drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech this week said that their vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90 per cent effective in preventing the disease in interim analysis of data.
Addressing the member states at the 73rd World Health Assembly on Tuesday, the WHO chief said that the UN health agency welcomes Pfizer’s “promising news” and expect additional effective vaccines in near future along with advances in testing and therapeutics.
Based on current projections, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses this year and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
Russia to begin trials of 2nd vaccine this week
The post-registration trial of Russia’s second COVID-19 vaccine will start from 15 November, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Developed by Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology, the COVID-19 vaccine was launched in October. Nearly 30,000 volunteers will take part in post-registration trials of the coronavirus vaccine, the press service of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing told TASS.
