It has accelerated the last phase of trials (Phase 3) being conducted by the multinational pharmaceutical firms racing to develop an anti-COVID-19 vaccine. And the faster that participants get sick, the faster the drug firms accumulate enough data to know whether their candidate-vaccines are effective. Pfizer-BioNTech said they are preparing to formally ask the US Food and Drug Administration to allow emergency use of their vaccine. Nonetheless, he said, “We’re optimistic we will be able to do so before Christmas.”Already, the British government has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, although it had also pre-ordered 40 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s version and five million doses of Moderna’s, reported the Guardian. The UK vaccine, the report pointed out, is likely to be priced much cheaper than those of the two American brands.

Source: Philippine Star November 20, 2020 15:56 UTC