COVID-19 Latest News: Britain Signs the Deal for 9 Crore Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine!

The British government announced on Monday that the United Kingdom has signed an agreement to secure 90 million doses of two coronavirus vaccines from the BioNTech Alliance, Pfizer, and French group Valneva.

According to a Reuters report, the UK has secured 30 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech experimental vaccine. The deal is originally for 60 million doses of Valneva vaccine with an option of another 40 million more doses if it proves to be effective, safe, and suitable.

Since no effective vaccine against COVID-19 has been developed, the UK has now ordered three different kinds of vaccines, with a total of 230 million doses available.

Alok Sharma, a business minister, stated that this new agreement with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and vaccine firms will assure that the UK has the best possible chance to obtain the vaccines to protect those most at risk”.

It has also launched a website for candidates to enroll in vaccine studies. Alok Sharma further stated: “The research for a COVID-19 vaccine is a truly global effort, and we will do our best to ensure that the British public has access to a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible”.

The agreements were entered into following a previously announced agreement with AstraZeneca, which will collaborate with the University of Oxford to produce 100 million doses of potential vaccines.

The UK stated that this is the first such deal in which BioNTech and  Pfizer have agreed to provide a vaccine, which is being tested in early to mid-term trials. Financial terms have not been revealed.

Since the outbreak, the UK has been one of the worst-hit countries in the world, with more than 45,000 deaths.

The goal of the two companies is to produce up to 100 million doses of vaccine by the end of this year; if the vaccine is successful, more than 1.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine may be produced by the end of 2021.

Unlike traditional, the inactivated complete vaccine of the virus developed by Valenova, it applies the so-called messenger RNA method.

 The potential vaccines of Valneva are still in preclinical trials, and the company’s goal is to enter clinical trials by the end of this year.

BioNtech is working with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to develop potential COVID-19 drugs. Currently, more than 150 potential vaccines for coronavirus are being developed worldwide and some of which are being under human trial to try to end the pandemic.

Earlier, Moderna, an American biotechnology company, declared that it will start the final phase of human trials for its vaccines candidate starting July 27. The company announced that earlier test results are encouraging. Up to 31,000 Americans are expected to enroll in the trial.

Researchers in the United States had earlier proclaimed that Moderna Inc.’s experimental vaccine for coronavirus proved that it was effective and safe for all 45 healthy aides and incited an immune response in an early-stage study.

The University of Oxford has licensed a potential COVID-19 vaccine to AstraZeneca, is currently in a large-scale stage III human trial to evaluate whether it can prevent COVID-19.

The UK also announced on Monday it had got vaccinations containing AstraZeneca’s coronavirus neutralizing immunoglobulins to protect those people who can’t be vaccinated and will buy 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine currently being tested at the University of Oxford in collaboration with AstraZeneca.

Matt Hancock, Health Minister stated that an efficient vaccine is our best hope for overcoming the coronavirus pandemic and returning to normal life. I request all who can to back national efforts and do sign up the NHS COVID-19 vaccine research registry to support and help to find a vaccine as soon as possible.