Moderna to charge $25-$37 for COVID-19 vaccine: CEO tells paper https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-moderna-eu-idUSKBN2810W4 Moderna will charge governments between $25 and $37 per dose of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, depending on the amount ordered, Chief Executive Stephane Bancel told German weekly Welt am Sonntag (WamS). “Our vaccine therefore costs about the same as a flu shot, which is between $10 and $50,” he was quoted as saying. On Monday, an EU official involved in the talks said the European Commission wanted to reach a deal with Moderna for the supply of millions of doses of its vaccine candidate for a price below $25 per dose. “Nothing is signed yet, but we’re close to a deal with the EU Commission. We want to deliver to Europe and are in constructive talks,” Bancel told WamS, adding it was just a “matter of days” until a contract would be ready. Moderna has said its experimental vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19, based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial, becoming the second developer to report results that far exceeded expectations after Pfizer and its partner BioNTech. The EU has been in talks with Moderna for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine at least since July.
The U.K. is setting up mass vaccination centers in December. Expects to vaccinate everyone by April. Coronavirus vaccines for all by April - if the Government can get supplies in time Health Secretary Matt Hancock told today’s No 10 briefing he was “more and more confident” of a re-turn to normality by spring” if vaccine proposals are rolled out as planned https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/coronavirus-vaccines-april-government-can-23044296
Note that Morgan Stanley makes the assumption that there will be better Federal involvement in the distribution of the vaccine than we are seeing now and the FDA will provide emergency use authorization for the two vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer). Morgan Stanley predicts it will take 4 to 9 months to vaccinate the rest of the US after first responders and vulnerable people https://www.businessinsider.com/whe...able-ready-distributed-morgan-stanley-2020-11 Two COVID-19 vaccines, one made by Moderna, another by Pfizer and BioNTech, announced promising results from their Phase 3 trials this week. Moderna announced that its vaccine was 94.5% effective on Monday, and Pfizer/BioNTech announced that their vaccine was 95% effective on Wednesday. Assuming that one or both of the vaccines receive emergency approval from the FDA, first responders and vulnerable populations will receive vaccines through March, a new analysis from Morgan Stanley predicts. After that, the rest of the US population will begin to be vaccinated, a process that Morgan Stanley predicts will take four to nine months. After vaccinating first responders and vulnerable populations like the elderly, it will take four to nine months to vaccinate the rest of the US, Morgan Stanley predicted in a report published Friday. Vaccinating the general population will likely last from spring of 2021 to winter of 2021, Morgan Stanley analysts forecasted. To estimate the amount of time it will take to vaccinate the general population, the analysts looked at major pharmacy CVS Health's vaccination capacity, which analysts wrote would take on a "meaningful role" in providing vaccines. CVS and Walgreens will administer up to half of all the vaccines in the US, Morgan Stanley predicts. As part of Morgan Stanley's projections, the analysts found that CVS would take 121 to 273 days to vaccinate its segment of the US population, assuming that 30,000 of the chain's pharmaceutical technicians will be working on vaccinating Americans, and CVS will be vaccinating about 50 to 115 million Americans. The prediction comes after promising results in November from two COVID-19 vaccine candidates made by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, and Moderna. On Monday, Moderna announced that its vaccine was 94.5% effective against COVID-19, and on Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their vaccine was 95% effective. Neither has been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration, and the results of the vaccine trials have yet to be peer reviewed. But Pfizer and BioNTech said that they were filing their COVID-19 vaccine for emergency approval from the FDA on Friday, and Moderna has said it will do the same in the coming days. CVS has 60,000 pharmacy technicians employed, according to Morgan Stanley, and plans on hiring an additional 10,000 to cope with flu season and increased COVID-19 cases, the company announced in October. Morgan Stanley analysts also estimate that the company could make $763 million to $1.5 billion EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) from administering COVID-19 vaccines.
‘Warp Speed’ advisor expects vaccine to ship mid-December, ‘herd immunity’ by May https://nypost.com/2020/11/22/warp-speed-advisor-expects-covid-19-vaccine-to-ship-mid-december/ The top advisor of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed said a coronavirus vaccine could be shipped to the states by the middle of December — and the US could reach “herd immunity” by May. “Our plan is to be able to ship vaccines to the immunization sites within 24 hours from the approval, so I expect maybe on day two after approval on the 11th or the 12th of December,” Dr. Moncef Slaoui told CNN on Sunday. He also predicted that life could start returning to normal by mid-2021, noting that “70 percent or so of the population being immunized would allow for true herd immunity to take place.” “That is likely to happen in the month of May or something like that, based on our plans,” Slaoui said. “I really hope and look forward to seeing that the level of negative perception of the vaccine decreases and peoples’ acceptance increases. That is going to be critical to help us. Most people need to be immunized before we can go back to a normal life.” He said states working with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will decide who gets priority to receive the first doses. “That’s very likely to be maybe health-care workers, maybe first-line workers, maybe individuals who are at very high risk, elderly, people with comorbidities. We will have already identified with each state and department of health where they want the vaccines to be located,” Slaoui said in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” Pfizer, which partnered with the German firm BioNTech on a vaccine candidate, said on Friday that it applied for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.. A panel of experts will review the application on Dec. 10, meaning the vaccine may be ready for distribution before the end of the year. Biotech firm Moderna, which also said its vaccine is 95 percent successful, will seek emergency use authorization in the coming weeks. Slaoui said the work to develop and plan for the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine has been kept “isolated” from political concerns and is ready to go regardless of who occupies the White House. “The operation has been isolated from the administration, from the political environment and the political context. We work very hard to make sure that’s the case. And, therefore, all the decisions are made, the train is running. Whether one administration or the other, it doesn’t frankly make a difference,” he told NBC. President Trump has blocked President-elect Joe Biden from the funds and mechanics for his transition as he continues to challenge the results of the 2020 election in several states after the former vice president amassed 306 Electoral College votes — beyond the 270 needed to clinch victory. Slaoui was asked by NBC’s Chuck Todd if he would like to begin advising the incoming Biden administration next week. “I understand that all the information that I made public, of course, I’ll make public to the new administration. I should not be saying, I have been informed that I should not be saying anything that’s confidential to anybody, including, you know, anybody that’s not part of the administration, and therefore, I’ll act according to what the legal requirements are,” he said.
The general, James Stavridis, in charge of vaccine distribution logistics in the U.S. admitted over the weekend that the U.S. military does not plan to distribute the vaccine. They only looked at that as a back-up plan. So in summary the U.S. government has not funded a dime for trucking or flying the vaccines; they have not purchased any cold storage or have taken any other steps. The U.S. government is relying completely on the private sector to transport and cold-store the COVID vaccine. Stavridis stated that only one company, McKesson, has agreed to distribute the vaccine. The company does not have anywhere near the necessary logistics and resources needed to distribute and cold store hundreds of millions of COVID vaccine doses over a few months. Former NATO commander: More than one company needed to distribute COVID-19 vaccines https://thehill.com/homenews/news/5...han-one-company-needed-to-distribute-covid-19 Former NATO commander James Stavridis wrote in an op-ed for Fortune magazine that the U.S. government must task more than one company with distributing the COVID-19 vaccine if it hopes to succeed in immunizing enough of the population. “A key tenet in the military’s operational planning for any contingency is to never allow for a single point of failure,” Stavridis wrote. “Our military regularly scrutinizes each part of an operation to ensure every contingency has been considered and no resources are left on the sideline. The scale and importance of a COVID-19 vaccination program demands the U.S. government focus on resilience.” Stavridis notes that the U.S. government hopes to provide enough vaccines for at least 300 million people and has so far only hired one drug distributor, McKesson, to handle this enormous task. “Putting all of our eggs in a single basket exposes our vaccination process to the potential for what we in the military call a single point of failure risk,” writes Stavridis. Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna recently announced that their coronavirus vaccine candidates have been shown to be more than 90 percent effective. Pfizer applied for emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its vaccine on Saturday. “But there is less clarity around the national vaccination effort,” writes Stavridis. “The parameters around who will receive the vaccine, when, and how are still murky. The sooner the process is made more transparent, the more trust and confidence the public will feel.” The former U.S. Navy admiral suggested that the government use the military, which is already running exercises in case of distribution failures, to test how effectively multiple companies could distribute the vaccine. “The U.S. has the most professional military in the world. I have no doubt that with the Defense Department supporting the development, production, and distribution of COVID vaccines, America can carry out an effective vaccination program,” Stavridis wrote. President-elect Joe Biden and health officials have warned that any interruption in the vaccine distribution plan could prove to have dire consequences. President Trump's administration has refused to give Biden's transition team data on the coronavirus pandemic, though Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board says it is working to stay informed through its own contacts in scientific circles.
https://apnews.com/article/astrazeneca-vaccine-third-cheaper-oxford-c99d26eb2946f6fde45a1edc002ff028 3rd major COVID-19 vaccine shown to be effective and cheaper LONDON (AP) — Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Monday that late-stage trials showed its coronavirus vaccine was up to 90% effective, giving public health officials hope they may soon have access to a vaccine that is cheaper and easier to distribute than some of its rivals. The results are based on interim analysis of trials in the U.K. and Brazil of a vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca. No hospitalizations or severe cases of COVID-19 were reported in those receiving the vaccine. AstraZeneca is the third major drug company to report late-stage results for a potential COVID-19 vaccine as the world anxiously waits for scientific breakthroughs that will bring an end to a pandemic that has wrought economic devastation and resulted in nearly 1.4 million confirmed deaths. Pfizer and Moderna last week reported preliminary results from late-stage trials showing their vaccines were almost 95% effective. But, unlike its rivals, the AstraZeneca vaccine doesn’t have to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures, making it easier to distribute, especially in developing countries. “I think these are really exciting results,” Dr. Andrew Pollard, chief investigator for the trial, said during a news conference. “Because the vaccine can be stored at fridge temperatures, it can be distributed around the world using the normal immunization distribution system. And so our goal … to make sure that we have a vaccine that was accessible everywhere, I think we’ve actually managed to do that.” The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is also cheaper. AstraZeneca, which has pledged it won’t make a profit on the vaccine during the pandemic, has reached agreements with governments and international health organizations that put its cost at about $2.50 a dose. Pfizer’s vaccine costs about $20 a dose, while Moderna’s is $15 to $25, based on agreements the companies have struck to supply their vaccines to the U.S. government. All three vaccines must be approved by regulators before they can be widely distributed. Oxford researchers and AstraZeneca stressed that they aren’t competing with other projects, and that multiple vaccines will be needed to reach enough of the world’s population and end the pandemic. “We’re not thinking about vaccinations working in terms of one person at a time. We have to think about vaccinating communities, populations, reducing transmission within those populations, so that we really get on top of this pandemic,″ said Sarah Gilbert, a leader of the Oxford research team. “And that’s what it now looks like we’re going to have the ability to contribute to in a really big way.″ The results come as a second wave of COVID-19 hits many countries, once again shutting businesses, restricting social interaction and pummeling the world economy. AstraZeneca said it will immediately apply for early approval of the vaccine where possible, and it will seek an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization, so it can make the vaccine available in low-income countries. The AstraZeneca trial looked at two different dosing regimens. A half-dose of the vaccine followed by a full dose at least one month later was 90% effective. Another approach, giving patients two full doses one month apart, was 62% effective. The combined results showed an average efficacy rate of 70%. The vaccine uses a weakened version of a common cold virus that is combined with genetic material for the characteristic spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19. After vaccination, the spike protein primes the immune system to attack the virus if it later infects the body. The vaccine can be transported under “normal refrigerated conditions” of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit), AstraZeneca said. By comparison, Pfizer plans to distribute its vaccine using specially designed “thermal shippers” that use dry ice to maintain temperatures of minus-70 degrees Celsius (minus-94 degrees Fahrenheit). Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said the finding that a smaller initial dose is more effective than a larger one is good news because it may reduce costs and mean more people can be vaccinated. “The report that an initial half-dose is better than a full dose seems counterintuitive for those of us thinking of vaccines as normal drugs: With drugs, we expect that higher doses have bigger effects, and more side-effects,” he said. “But the immune system does not work like that.” The results reported Monday come from trials in the U.K. and Brazil that involved 23,000 people. Late-stage trials are also underway in the U.S., Japan, Russia, South Africa, Kenya and Latin America, with further trials planned for other European and Asian countries. AstraZeneca has been ramping up manufacturing capacity, so it can supply hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine starting in January, Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said earlier this month. Soriot said Monday that the Oxford vaccine’s simpler supply chain and AstraZeneca’s commitment to provide it on a nonprofit basis during the pandemic mean it will be affordable and available to people around the world. “This vaccine’s efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency,” Soriot said. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he felt “a great sense of relief” at the news from AstraZeneca. Britain has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, and the government says several million doses can be produced before the end of the year if it is approved by regulators. Just months ago, “the idea that by November we would have three vaccines, all of which have got high effectiveness … I would have given my eye teeth for,” Hancock said.
It's likely the Chinese will be shown the "world heroes" when theirs is finalized and sold for peanuts to the third world
China is already trialing and selling their vaccine in many countries including Brazil... Brazil to receive China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...9-vaccine-eyes-pfizer-candidate-idUSKBN27X2KQ Brazil’s Sao Paulo state is set to begin importing the first of 46 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine against COVID-19 this week, while the federal government takes a more cautious approach with a vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc.