Healthcare resources in rich and poor countries alike are reeling under the burden of Covid-19 morbidity and mortality. Moderna Therapeutics, a US biotechnology company is the frontrunner in the global race. Early results show that the Moderna vaccine caused patients to produce antibodies that neutralise the coronavirus, which causes Covid-19. However, the vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University has moved fastest and generated an immune response in a study of 1,000 patients. But French President Emmanuel Macron has argued that any vaccine against Covid-19 must be treated as a global public good, without any national rights to pre-orders.

Source: The Star July 28, 2020 15:56 UTC