Tag: vaccination

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Aspen Shifts to SA Production of COVID Vaccines

On By ModernMedia

Aspen Pharmacare has secured a deal to manufacture the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine, in an effort to adapt to the pharmaceutical market. 

Elective surgeries being deferred due to the pandemic has reduced demand for certain medications, and the company withheld dividends for the second year running in September. However, the company does produce some medications which are currently in demand due to COVID.

Dexamethasone, one of the medications Aspen has the rights to produce, is a key treatment for COVID patients, which according to a study done in June, reduces mortality by 30%. Colchicine is another medication used to treat COVID, normally used for gout.

Tavros Nicolaou, a senior Aspen executive, said in an interview: “In February, we looked at how we best respond to this looming disaster facing us and we split it into three buckets — what we can do at a therapeutic level, what can we do at a vaccine level and what can we do to generally help society.” This positioned them “globally as a company that had a multifaceted response to this pandemic.”

The pharmaceuticals company has invested R3 billion in a Port Elizabeth plant to manufacture the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine at a rate of 300 million per year, which will help supply the rest of Africa. The need for local COVID vaccines may come sooner rather than later.

Despite peaking in July, the country’s COVID pandemic is not yet over with at least two provinces seeing increases in cases again, while on the horizon a second surge is expected in January.

Source: Moneyweb

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UNICEF Calls for Urgent Action to Avoid Polio and Measles Epidemics

On By ModernMedia

UNICEF and the World Health Organization issued a press release today calling for a major effort to avert impending epidemics of both polio and measles resulting from disruption caused by COVID.

The organisations estimate that US$655 million (US$400 million for polio and US$255 million for measles) is needed to address immunity gaps that are opening up for these deadly and debilitating diseases.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said, “COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on health services and in particular immunization services, worldwide. But unlike with COVID, we have the tools and knowledge to stop diseases such as polio and measles. What we need are the resources and commitments to put these tools and knowledge into action. If we do that, children’s lives will be saved.”

Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director, added, “We cannot allow the fight against one deadly disease to cause us to lose ground in the fight against other diseases. Addressing the global COVID-19 pandemic is critical. However, other deadly diseases also threaten the lives of millions of children in some of the poorest areas of the world. That is why today we are urgently calling for global action from country leaders, donors and partners. We need additional financial resources to safely resume vaccination campaigns and prioritize immunization systems that are critical to protect children and avert other epidemics besides COVID-19.”

Gaps were already opening in measles coverage, with minor outbreaks even before the disruption of the COVID pandemic. Polio risks resurgence in Afghanistan, Pakistan and in under-immunised areas of Africa. To help address these challenges, a novel polio vaccine is being developed and a new response plan is being developed.

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HIV Vaccine Search is a Marathon

On By ModernMedia

While COVID vaccines have appeared in a record-breaking short time, an HIV vaccine is still yet to arrive – though not without good reasons, as The Daily Maverick reports.

Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, a US-based HIV advocacy organisation explained: “There is still no conclusive research on what type of immune response an HIV vaccine should be trying to trigger.”

“With HIV, you’re trying to do better than nature,” continued Warren. “With a Covid-19 vaccine, the jab merely has to do what nature is doing already — in the form of an immune response — just faster. But with HIV, you’re trying to do better than nature because your body isn’t able to successfully fight off the virus.”

HIV mutates quite rapidly, to the point where there are now two distinct strains, HIV-1 and HIV-1, complicating the process. SARS-CoV-2 on the other hand uses a process called proofreading when it replicates, ensuring a lower rate of mutations.

There are currently three vaccines in development; HPX2008/HVTN 705: Imbokodo and HPX3002/HVTN 706: Mosaico both use adenoviruses to deliver protein fragments of the HIV virus to train the immune system to respond to it. The “Imbokodo” is being trialled with young women, and “Mosaico” is being trialled with transgender men and men who have sex with men, and expected to end in 2022 and 2024 respectively. 

The PrEPVacc vaccine uses DNA inserted into plasmids, which induce the body to produce the virus’ proteins, but not the virus itself. The two shots contain a cocktail of proteins and the plasmids to train the immune system. The trial is expected to end in 2023