Syrian President Al Assad and wife test positive for coronavirus
▶ New Covid-19 inoculations include ones using ‘superglue’ technology or spike proteins produced in insect cells, writes Daniel Bardsley
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and his wife, Asma, tested positive for coronavirus yesterday after experiencing “mild symptoms”, a Syrian state social media account reported.
The couple are in “good health and their condition is stable” and they will perform their duties from their residence while in quarantine, the presidency said.
Their diagnosis was confirmed less than a week before the 10-year anniversary of the outbreak of war in the country.
The conflict has created more than 5.6 million Syrian refugees and more than six million people have been internally displaced.
In the UAE, officials reported 2,483 new cases of Covid-19, 1,857 recoveries and 13 deaths yesterday.
It raised the totals to 413,332 infections, 394,649 recoveries and 1,335 deaths since the pandemic began.
Dr Omar Al Hammadi, a medical practitioner in the UAE, urged anyone welcoming someone into their home to politely ask them to wear a mask.
“Let’s assume you need a faulty appliance fixed. Unfortunately, when the handyman enters the house, one of the parties will inevitably ease the precautionary measures in place to protect them both,” he said. He also said parents should monitor the health of their children.
Early research suggested that children were not one of the major carriers of the virus, but more recent studies raised concerns.
“During this period, I do advise reducing interaction of children who are not from the same family,” said Dr Al Hammadi.
Internationally, officials in the US said yesterday that fully vaccinated people could gather without masks. The guidelines were issued by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 17.7 per cent of people in the US have received one or more doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the agency’s vaccine tracker.
Three vaccines have been approved for use in the country to date.
Covid-19 vaccines have become household names after mass inoculation was declared the most viable long-term solution to an outbreak that has raged for more than a year.
The vaccines from Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca have all become part of the collective consciousness of a world eager for a way back to normality.
Over the coming months, other vaccines are set to become equally well known as they secure approval from regulators.
No fewer than 74 Covid-19 vaccines – including those already released – have reached clinical trials and another 182 are in preclinical studies.
According to Polly Roy, professor of virology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, experience with vaccines so far during the pandemic is proving useful to researchers who are working to improve inoculations.
“I think it is teaching us many different things that help to make better quality vaccines,” Prof Roy says.
“Vaccines all the time are going to improve. They will be better and better quality.”
Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines will be modified so that they are easier to preserve and transport.
The Pfizer-BioNTech inoculation must be stored at at least minus 70°C, but the producers are seeking approval to be allowed to store it at higher temperatures.
“Multi-variant vaccines” better able to cope with mutations in the coronavirus will also be released, Prof Roy says.
With efficacy rates of more than 90 per cent in some cases, existing vaccines have set a high bar for subsequent inoculations and weeded out some below-par shots.
Here, we look at some of the vaccines set to make a mark.
Janssen/Johnson & Johnson
Developed by Janssen, a Belgian subsidiary of US company Johnson & Johnson, this vaccine stands out for requiring only a single dose. It was recently approved for US distribution by the FDA. Crucially for global distribution, it is inexpensive and can be stored in refrigerators.
“It looks very good. It will be useful in poorer-world situations,” says David Taylor, professor emeritus of pharmaceutical and public health policy at University College London.
It is based on an adenovirus that has been modified to prevent it from replicating and causing disease.
Genetic material has been added so that the adenovirus causes human cells to produce harmless coronavirus spike proteins, the immune response to which protects against Covid-19.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and Russia’s Sputnik V are also based on adenoviruses.
Clinical trials found the Johnson & Johnson vaccine did not produce major side effects and was 66 per cent effective at preventing moderate to severe illness four weeks after a single dose, and 85 per cent effective at averting severe illness.
The vaccine also reduces transmission, although it is less effective against the South African and Brazilian variants.
A billion doses could be produced this year.
Bharat Biotech (Covaxin)
India’s Covid-19 vaccine, developed by Bharat Biotech, has been pre-approved by the country’s authorities.
It was found to be 81 per cent effective against the virus in Phase 3 trials.
Covaxin is based on an inactivated version of the coronavirus that cannot replicate or cause illness yet prompts a protective immune response, like the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines.
The inactivated virus is given alongside an immune potentiator or adjuvant, a substance that strengthens the immune response.
This two-dose vaccine entered late-stage clinical trials in India, where it is being manufactured, in November, and there are trials in Bangladesh too.
Because the vaccine is made of inactivated whole virus particles, and not only the spike protein, the immune response may be more protective against new variants, which tend to have crucial changes in the spike protein.
Stored in refrigerators, the vaccine is likely to be administered in numerous Asian countries, including the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, as well as Bahrain and Oman. Bharat Biotech’s investment in factories means monthly production could reach 40 million doses.
EpiVacCorona
After Russia’s Sputnik V comes another vaccine from the country, EpiVacCorona, created by the Vector State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology. Regulators in Russia have already approved the vaccine.
While many Covid-19 vaccines involve injecting genetic material that causes the production of coronavirus proteins, EpiVacCorona itself contains synthetic versions of the spike proteins, in the form of short fragments or peptides linked to a carrier protein. The vaccine also contains an adjuvant to strengthen the immune response.
Officials said that results from early trials were impressive.
All participants under 60 developed antibodies against the coronavirus, while 94 per cent of those 60 and older had an immune response.
They also said that the vaccine was shown to be effective against the UK coronavirus variant, and predicted that it would work against the South African and Brazilian variants as well.
Administered as two doses, the vaccine is said to have sparked interest from 45 countries, with Russia’s neighbour Belarus among the nations likely to receive supplies.
Valneva
Like the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines and others likely to be used soon, the Valneva inoculation is based on an inactivated version of the coronavirus.
Valneva, which has its headquarters in France and manufacturing plants in Austria, Scotland and Sweden, announced in late January that it had started producing doses so that there would be stockpiles once approval was granted.
The UK has already ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine and these supplies should be available from the end of the year or early next year, should the vaccine be approved.
Showing how far ahead governments are looking, and indicating that Covid-19 vaccination is going to be an ongoing part of life, the British government has an option for a further 90 million doses to be delivered between 2023 and 2025. Up to 60 million doses may be ordered by the EU.
The company said results from the first clinical trials of the vaccine, the only one based on an inactivated virus under development in Europe, should be available next month.
Novavax
This vaccine consists of purified coronavirus spike proteins produced in insect cells and a proprietary adjuvant to strengthen the immune response.
Novavax, a US biotechnology company founded in 1987, says the vaccine cannot replicate in human cells nor can it cause Covid-19, and is stable in refrigerators.
Clinical trials in the UK found the vaccine to be 89.3 per cent effective at preventing Covid-19, although it was marginally less effective at stopping people from falling ill to the more transmissible UK variant.
During clinical trials in South Africa, where another more-transmissible variant is prevalent, efficacy was significantly lower, at only 60 per cent.
In the second quarter of this year, the company plans to begin testing a reworked vaccine better able to cope with new variants.
This could be given as a booster shot or as part of a joint vaccine with the original version, what the company calls a combination bivalent vaccine.
Should the vaccine get the regulatory green light, Novavax is due to deliver 60 million doses to the British government in the second half of this year, manufactured in England.
Sanofi/GlaxoSmithKline
Disappointing clinical results for this vaccine were announced last year, with the immune response in older people poorer than had been hoped.
Reports indicated that people in clinical trials were given a lower dose than they should have been.
New trials are being carried out with a different dosage, with the goal of releasing the vaccine at the end of the year. The companies are also developing an updated version designed to protect against the South African and other variants.
Adopting a similar approach to EpiVacCorona, this vaccine consists of Sars-CoV-2 proteins produced by genetically engineered organisms, contributed by Sanofi, plus an adjuvant supplied by GSK. Protein vaccines of this kind produced through genetic engineering are well established.
SpyBiotech
Developed with the Serum Institute of India, this vaccine uses SpyBiotech’s own “superglue” technology to attach the coronavirus spike protein to virus-like particles (VLPs) that are unable to cause infection. The VLPs, based on hepatitis B, are a well-established vaccine platform.
The superglue technology, called SpyCatcher/SpyTag, is licensed from the University of Oxford, from which SpyBiotech was “spun out” as a company. It can be used to produce vaccines against a wide variety of pathogens.
“The vaccine I’m most interested in is the one being produced by SpyBiotech,” says Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at the university. He says that in tests, it produced one of the highest levels of neutralising antibodies.
“It’s very, very cheap and easy to make,” he says. “It looks like a great vaccine.”
Clinical trials began in September last year.