After Russia announced it has approved its anti-COVID-19 vaccine “Sputnik V” and will administer it to its teachers and health workers in October, China announced this week that it too has approved its vaccine, saying tests have shown it is “safe and generates an immune response.”
To a desperate world hoping to see an end to the pandemic, which has now infected over 22 million people and killed over 777,000 worldwide in the last eight months, the news about the two vaccines was most welcome. Countries around the world have suspended all their usual activities because of the pandemic. All are waiting for the discovery of a cure for those who have been infected and a vaccine for those who fear infection.
Each country has a government agency which approves vaccines and other health products before they may be used on its people, but scientists and researchers around the world generally agree that new vaccines must undergo series of processes before they are approved.
First there is Preclinical Testing — scientists apply the vaccine to mice, monkeys, or other animals to see if it produces an immune response. This is followed by Phase 1 Safety Trials, using a small number of people, then by a Phase 2 Expanded Trials using hundreds of people to further test the vaccine’s safety and see if it acts differently in different people like children and the elderly. In Phase 3 Efficacy Trials, it is tested on thousands, to see if there are any side effects that might have been missed in the earlier trials. Finally, there is approval by the regulators in each country.
During a pandemic, a vaccine may receive emergency-use authorization by the national regulating agency. This is what happened in Russia which approved its vaccine after the Phase 2 trials, but it is proceeding with Phase 3, using volunteers in the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates. This apparently is also what happened in China which approved its own vaccine after Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials which, government news agency Xinhua said, produced results indicating the vaccine is safe and effective.
We welcome the news of these first two vaccines. In the coming months, we should be hearing from the other countries, notably the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, and India. There are some 125 vaccines under development around the world, with Russia and China being the first to approve their own vaccines.
President Duterte has welcomed the offers from both Russia and China that they will share their vaccines with us. Without such vaccines, the President had announced months ago, he will not allow face-to-face classes in the country.
We will know how well the vaccines are meeting the pandemic when the thousands of infections and deaths around the world are finally stopped. Until then we can only resort to protecting ourselves through social distancing, personal hygiene, and the use of such protective equipment as face masks and face shields.