European Commission signs second COVID-19 vaccine contract

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in the southern city of Hyderabad, has partnered with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund, to conduct the trials and distribution of the vaccine candidate in India.

However, the European Union has publicly said it wants to boost the production capacity of vaccine makers and share any excess doses with poorer nations. 36 of them in clinical trials.

Vaccines and treatments are seen as essential in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic that has shown no signs of slowing and killed over 944,000 people worldwide.

Big pharma is racing to produce an effective jab to counter a virus that has now killed more than 935,000 people around the world and infected nearly 30 million.

COVAX - coordinated by GAVI, CEPI, and World Health Organization - is a pooled procurement mechanism for new Covid-19 vaccines that aims to provide participating economies fair and equitable access to vaccines by pooling purchasing power from these nations across a range of candidate vaccines.

"We can not understand how much is PR and how much is a violation of medical ethics", he said of the announcement that the vaccine had been approved for use outside a clinical trial.

A total of 2020 participants were expected to be enrolled in the study in South Africa.

Phase 3 is the final stage before approval, in which a vaccine and a placebo are tested on thousands of participants to verify the medicine is safe and effective.

Former Japanese PM Abe visits controversial Tokyo shrine
Japan's occupation of its two neighbours ended with its defeat in 1945 and the conclusion of the Second World War . Visits by Japan's leaders to the shrine have previously been seen as a lack of remorse for its militaristic past.

Bancel explained to CNBC that it is unlikely that Moderna will have enough data to make an accurate assertion about the vaccine's efficacy by October.

He predicts a vaccine by April 2021 is likely.

"We need a people's vaccine, not a profit vaccine", Vera said.

The Serum Institute of India has received Indian regulatory approval to resume local trials and intends to restart in the next day or two, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the regulator's decision isn't public. "Phase II clinical trials are ongoing", Choubey said. The disagreements are over the effectiveness of masks and when a coronavirus vaccine will be ready and available. The formula, based on the human adenoviral vectors platform, was unveiled early in August.

In addition, the government of India has formed a National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19, which is creating a strategy on the procurement mechanisms for vaccine, including both indigenous and global manufacturing, along with guiding principles for prioritisation of population groups for vaccination.

"The Health Minister must respond now or he may have to answer to the people later on why Malaysia is last in the queue for the vaccines", he said.

India recently crossed the grim milestone of 5 million cases and its death toll stands at more than 84,000.

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