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The challenge is to develop a vaccine that can stimulate the immune system to produce effective antibodies against the virus. However, some aspects of vaccine development still lack maturity, which risks keeping scientific research in this field going for a long time.substance.
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While the second wave of Covid-19 is gaining momentum, especially in Europe, and bringing extremely strong pressure on health services and nursing staff in its wake, the development of a Covid-19 vaccine monopolizes the attention of decision makers. . Chinese, Russians, Europeans, Americans … Everyone is running after the miracle cure. Hence the question: where are the clinical trials on this vaccine?
In an article published on November 4, the British scientific journal The Lancet indicates that 45 “ candidate vaccines ” are currently in clinical trials in humans and ten of them are currently in phase III. This phase corresponds to the phase during which the efficacy of the vaccine is evaluated on a very large scale, i.e. on several thousand voluntary human “ guinea pigs ” scattered across different continents. The New York Times estimates that the number of vaccines currently in clinical trials in humans at 52, and at least 86 preclinical vaccines are being studied in animals. Some results he could – the conditional is important – to be announced by the end of 2020.
But we must not be fooled: the development of an effective vaccine is long, very long. According to The Lacent, “ a satisfactory and large-scale distribution of Covid-19 vaccines is not expected until the middle or end of the year 2021 ”, i.e. before six months minimum.
Because the whole challenge is to develop a vaccine that can stimulate the immune system to produce effective antibodies against the virus. But here it is, for the moment, “in terms of immunology and molecular microbiology, vaccine research is still immature, which requires a longer period to produce a new vaccine,” points out the International Journal of Biological Sciences for its part. in an article on the state of development of a Covid-19 vaccine.
This same problem leads to others: the International Journal of Biological Sciences specifies that it is indeed necessary, in the context of accelerating vaccine development, to update the rules that currently prevail: ” When developing new vaccines, they must be very sophisticated production procedures and related search criteria were scrupulously and meticulously taken into consideration. In order to meet overlapping medical, technological, regulatory, and public safety requirements, a new set of rules and guidelines would be needed if a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine were developed on an accelerated basis for clinical use. ”
It is also necessary for researchers to master and understand the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2, the process by which a pathogenic cause acts on the body and causes a disease, and that they are able to assess the duration of vaccine immunity. , the goal is to develop an effective vaccine. Understanding the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2, including infected target organs and the route of transmission to certain organs, can help develop vaccines to interfere with viral spread and prevent target organ infections. Whether SARS-CoV-2 affects the lungs to induce viraemic pneumonia (viraemia refers to the presence of a virus in the blood, ed) or after upper respiratory tract infections, is an important consideration, ” points out the International Journal of Biological Sciences.
Yet, in the vaccine nebula, some promising elements are emerging: the vaccine developed by American Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech is “90% effective,” the two pharmaceutical companies said on Monday, November 9, after the first provisional analysis of their trial. phase 3, the last one before an application for registration.
“More than eight months after the worst pandemic in more than a century began, we believe this step represents a significant step forward for the world in our battle against Covid-19,” said Pfizer President and CEO Albert Bourla, in a statement. He added: “The first set of results from our Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine study provides initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent Covid-19.” Based on projections, the companies said they plan to provide up to 50 million doses of the vaccine globally by the end of the year and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
Pfizer and BioNTech plan to seek authorization for emergency use of their vaccine as early as this month in the United States. They estimate that the three necessary criteria (effectiveness, absence of health risks and the ability to produce on a large scale) will be met by the end of the month.
As a reminder, during an interview with Médias24, Health Minister Khalid Ait Taleb indicated that at best, at least one anti-Covid vaccine will be authorized in early January or December. “Best case scenario” means that phase 3 studies will conclude that a particular vaccine is “safe and effective”; that this vaccine benefits from emergency authorizations from national or international medical authorities. In this case, vaccination in Morocco will start in late December or early January. The Minister of Health responded very cautiously to questions about the possible timetable. Almost reluctance. For the moment, therefore, these are only hypotheses.
Dr. Hicham Skali, cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, is also cautious in an interview with Médias24 on Monday, November 9: “Clearly, it is not finding the vaccine that everything will end the next day. . It is when we have vaccinated and therefore immunized a large part of the population, with an effective vaccine, that we can finally say that the crisis is behind us “.
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