Comparing vaccines: country of origin, safety, price, efficacy, and approval

 It is known that the goal of vaccine developers is to mimic a natural infection as closely as possible without getting a healthy individual sick.

The COVID-19  vaccines essentially aim to instruct the immune system to mount a defense, which is sometimes stronger than what would be provided through natural infection and comes with fewer health consequences.

Here are the available vaccines:

Pfizer

1- One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, based in New York, in collaboration with German biotech company BioNTech.

2- A nucleic-acid vaccine that requires two doses taken 21 days apart.

3- On December 2, the U.K. became the first Western country to approve any COVID-19 vaccine when it authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech candidate making the drug the first mRNA vaccine in history allowed for human use.

The vaccine has also been granted emergency approval in Canada, the European Union, and other countries.

4- On December 10, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of Pfizer’s phase three study, showing the vaccine was safe and 95-percent effective in protecting against COVID-19 in people 16 and older. The FDA has also published an analysis saying that the Pfizer vaccine is safe and offers strong protection against COVID-19 within 10 days of the first dose, regardless of the recipient’s race, weight, or age.

Price: $23 per dose

Johnson & Johnson

1- One of the world’s largest multinational corporations, based in New Jersey, specializing in healthcare and pharmaceutical products.

2- A single-dose vector vaccine.

3- Approved for use in the U.S., Bahrain, Canada, and the European Union.

4- On February 24, an FDA analysis confirmed Johnson & Johnson’s earlier report that its vaccine is safe and effective in preventing COVID-19. The report found the vaccine is 72-percent effective in preventing COVID-19 based on U.S. trials, and 85-percent effective in preventing severe disease across all regions.

Price: $10 a dose

Read more: What to do before vaccination and what to expect after vaccination

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Read more: 6 reasons why you shouldn't worry about COVID-19 vaccines

Moderna

1- A Massachusetts-based biotech company, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health.

2- A nucleic-acid vaccine that requires two doses.

3- On December 18, the FDA granted emergency approval to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, a day after an advisory panel decided 20-0, with one abstention, that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks, such as the mild side effects reported in their clinical trial.

 The vaccine has also been approved in the European Union, Canada, the U.K., and Israel.

4- In December, an FDA analysis of the phase three study of Moderna’s vaccine confirmed that it is 94.1-percent effective in preventing mild cases of COVID-19 and 100-percent effective at preventing severe cases after taking two doses.

Price: $19.5 per dose

AstraZeneca

1- The U.K. university, in collaboration with the biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

2- A viral vector vaccine that requires two doses.

3- Approved for use in the United Kingdom, the European Union, Argentina, India, and other countries.

 4- On March 19, several European countries said they would resume use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after EU regulators said the jab does not increase the risk of blood clots. In recent weeks, 13 European nations and a handful of other countries had announced that they would temporarily halt their use of the vaccine due to the reports, even as the WHO and the EU drug regulator recommended its continued use.

Price: Under $4 per dose

Read more: The reasons why you should worry about AstraZeneca vaccine

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Sputnik V

1- A Russian research institution, in partnership with the state-run Russian Direct Investment Fund.

2- A viral vector vaccine that uses two strains of adenovirus and requires a second injection after 21 days to boost the immune response.

3- In August, Russia cleared the Sputnik V vaccine for widespread use and claimed it as the first registered COVID-19 vaccine on the market—before the vaccine’s phase three trials had begun and despite the lack of published evidence at the time.

 It has since been approved in Belarus, Argentina, Venezuela, and other countries.

4- On February 2, the medical journal The Lancetpublished the results of a phase three trial in Moscow that found the Sputnik V vaccine is safe and 91.6-percent effective in preventing COVID-19.

Price: $10 a dose

Sinopharm

1- China’s state-run pharmaceutical company, in collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.

2- Two inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

3- China has approved one of the company’s vaccines for general use and another for limited use. One of the Sinopharm vaccines has also been approved in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries.

4- On December 30, the company announced results of its phase three study showing one of its vaccines to be 79-percent effective in preventing COVID-19.

  UAE officials also claimed the vaccine is 100-percent effective in preventing moderate and severe cases of the disease.

Price: From $18 to $44

Bharat Biotech (COVAXIN)

1- An Indian biotechnology company, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology.

2- An inactivated vaccine, which requires two doses that are administered 28 days apart.

3- Authorized for emergency use in India.

Medicago (CoVLP)

1- A Canadian biotechnology company, in partnership with British multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.

2- A plant-derived recombinant vaccine with an adjuvant that requires two doses administered 21 days apart.

3- Not approved for use.

The mRNA vaccine [Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna] seems to be highly effective, two doses of that vaccine against this variant. The viral vector vaccines from [Johnson & Johnson] and AstraZeneca also appear to be effective, about 60% effective. The mRNA vaccines are about 88% effective. So we have the tools to control this and defeat it. We just need to use those tools

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