The biggest risk is to market poor-quality, ineffective vaccines, and even worsen the pandemic.

The nCoV vaccine race shows that countries around the world and a number of commercial companies are competing to become the owners of the licensed “candidate” for circulation. But experts believe that it would be better to wait until the results of a comprehensive clinical trial and show that the “candidate” is at least 30-50% effective.

A scientist is working at the Covid-19 vaccine laboratory at Oxford University. Photo:  Reuters.

Vaccine is considered one of the important factors in preventing pandemics. However, Professor Richard Peto of Oxford University, an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), says that the first dose of nCoV vaccine will be purchased and used worldwide even if it is ineffective. .

While it protects only a small fraction of the population from the pandemic, the nCoV vaccine will be the standard for measuring future new vaccinations. That could even lead to poor-quality vaccines being approved, as they won’t need to be proven to be more effective.

“I think that the nCoV vaccine race between countries is becoming very hasty, a national rush and also a quarter of a capital, to become the new vaccine owner. This will make it more difficult to evaluate other vaccines. A vaccine to end the Covid-19 pandemic is absolutely necessary and we need it soon, but it must be strongly proven effective and safe to meet the standard, ”said Professor Peto. .

The Oxford vaccine is currently a potential “candidate”. Extensive phase III clinical trials are taking place in a number of countries, including those with high levels of infection, such as South Africa and Brazil. Testing in places with a rapidly increasing number of infections and a high risk of infection will make it easier for vaccines to demonstrate efficacy and give results more quickly and clearly.

Also on August 28, the Health Ministry said it plans to take steps to ensure the UK can issue an emergency license for a vaccine this year if the country has enough evidence of its safety and safety. effective. On the other hand, if they fail to meet the above target, the UK nCoV vaccine candidate will have to wait until December 31 to get official approval from the European Pharmaceutical Authority.

In its consultation document on the change of the law, the UK government said the country’s Joint Commission on Vaccines and Immunization (JCVI) would be responsible for recommending a vaccine to be licensed. The committee led by Professor Andrew Pollard, who heads the Oxford University vaccine research group, says they may have enough data to make it available to regulators by the end of the year.

Professor Peto is a member of the WHO united group of vaccine testing specialists. This group consists of leading scientists from around the world consulting on the establishment of a WHO trial to compare different vaccine “candidates”.

The research team shared in the Lancet medical journal   last week that a poor-quality vaccine will make things worse than not having a vaccine. One of the main reasons stems from the fact that infected people will assume they are no longer at risk and do not practice social distancing.

They urge all regulators to follow WHO guidelines, which say that no vaccine is less than 30% effective should be approved; At the same time, it is recommended that efficacy be at least 50% in clinical trials and have an accuracy of 95%, equivalent to about 30% in practice.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it will follow WHO’s 30% guidelines. But some officials say political pressure could lead to the licensing of a vaccine below that threshold.

Source: https://vnexpress.net/vaccine/cuoc-dua-vaccine-ncov-co-the-khien-dai-dich-te-hon-4154722.html