Johnson & Johnson Joins Competitors on Phase 3 COVID-19 Vaccine

Mexico is actively seeking to be part of COVAX in order to guarantee the country’s supply of a COVID-19 vaccine development. In addition, competitors are moving faster during their phase 3 of clinical trials. For the moment, the world has five strong contenders that are searching the cure for this virus.

NATIONAL

-Seven vaccine developments are likely to undertake clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine development:

• Janssen and Novavax
• Sputnik V
• Cansino Biologics
• Curevac
• Sanofi Pasteur
• Reithera

Moreover, Mexico is formalizing its participation with COVAX.  According to WHO, COVAX is the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. Its aim is to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world.

-As Influenza season approaches, Deputy Minister of Health Hugo López-Gatell has already announced the beginning of the vaccination campaign. López-Gatell said that Mexico plans to get more than 35 million doses of Influenza vaccines ready for the winter season.  

INTERNATIONAL

-After a participant on the AstraZeneca/Oxford trials for a COVID-19 vaccine development presented an adverse reaction, the coalition is still waiting for complete approvals to resume their global trials. News reports stated that the trials had presented a second adverse patient case. However, it was a misconception from an article posted by the NYT, where the journal exposed a previous adverse reaction of the vaccine before it began phase 3 of the trials.

-Johnson & Johnson has announced the beginning of phase 3 of the clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine development. Sixty thousand volunteers are expected to participate on trial runs in the US. This development is the third one to reach this stage for a COVID-19 vaccine in that country. According to the announcement, if results are positive, Johnson & Johnson will ask for an emergency approval for the vaccine. 

-The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mistakenly announced that COVID-19 could spread through particles that can remain suspended in the air and travel beyond a 1.8 meter-distance. According to the announcement and previous CDC statements, COVID-19 could mainly be transmitted from one person to another through droplets when a sick person coughs, sneezes, or talks. However, in recent information, the Center concluded that due to the progression of the disease, it is best to start purifying air and ensuring a safe environment to avoid further contagion. CDC said that this information came from a draft from a research paper for recommendations to avoid SARS-CoV-2 transmission, however, it was posted by mistake.

-Medtronic began a clinical trial that focuses on a device for heart failure detection. The development called Reveal LINQ Insertable Cardiac Monitor intends to notify clinicians if patients are presenting a high risk of heart failure - therefore, doctors can prescribe a treatment or therapy to protect patient’s health.

-These are the COVID-19 vaccines going formally through their phase 3 of clinical trials:

• Johnson & Johnson (the most recently introduced)
• AstraZeneca/Oxford (the most advanced development)
• Moderna Therapeutics
• Sinovac
• Pfizer & BioNTech is to begin with the trial stage. However, the coalition has created a strategy to determine the functionality of the vaccine before moving forward to the trail phase. According to Bloomberg, “Pfizer has given itself four chances to get a preliminary result, before reaching the final goal of 164. Some trial experts say the company appears to be looking for a leg up in a race against frontrunners such as Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc to be first with a vaccine.”