Medicosnext
After US manufacturer Pfizer’s 90% effectiveness claim of its COVID-19 vaccine, and Russia’s Sputnik V’s claim of 92% effectiveness, now, US company Moderna is saying that its vaccine is 94.5% effective against the virus that has turned the world upside down. Wonder who’s going to be the first to claim 100% effectiveness? It’s not only about national prestige, but equally about world dominance and really large amounts of money. Wall Street is on a bull run, setting record highs every day after the first claim of vaccine effectiveness by Pfizer a week or so ago.
China, which says it already has a couple of great COVID-19 vaccines, has kept a relatively low profile, compared to the USA and Russia. Expectedly, Russia-friendly countries like Cuba, Venezuela, East European nations, and some others (including perhaps India) have agreed to buy Sputnik V for vaccination of their citizens. And, China perhaps doesn’t need any outside countries, seeing as to how it has the world’s largest population, but still, one can expect many African countries, and of course, North Korea, (also perhaps Nepal) to use Chinese vaccines, which I believe, is also on sale online.
The US companies are requesting their FDA to authorize emergency use of their vaccines, but it will be interesting to see if they do so before President Donald Trump has conceded the 2020 election to Joe Biden, even if it was his highly efficient way of management, via Operation Warp Speed, that enabled the two companies, in the first place, to have their vaccines at this stage of development. As everyone knows, under normal circumstances, this would generally take years, keeping in mind the US FDA’s stringent rules and regulations regarding drug development, and of course, the ever present danger of numerous lawsuits in case of any shortfall of the drug in question, a common occurrence in the country of lawyers and lawsuits.
Nonetheless, there are numerous US-friendly countries, including of course, Europe and Japan and South Korea that have already paid up in advance for millions of doses for their well-off citizenry. In the case of less wealthy countries, and some downright poor ones like Nepal, the question remains: will vaccination be free? Because, otherwise, it is doubtful if most of the populace will be able to afford one, in which case, developing herd immunity will be just a pipe dream.
