Filenews 17 November 2020
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health of the Medical School of the University of Cyprus George Nikolopoulos said that if the effectiveness of vaccines is so high "in the end it probably will not be necessary to vaccinate the entire population in order to achieve immunity". That is, he explained, "you can vaccinate a smaller percentage of the population, close to 70% and achieve it. So this is something important that we need to know."
Impressively, he described the results announced by Pfizer – Xiontech and Moderna for their candidate vaccines against Covid-19, noting however that vaccination-level results in the Republic of Cyprus and other countries will begin to be seen in practice in Spring.
For the first time, Professor of Microbiology/ Molecular Iology of the Medical School of the University of Nicosia Petros Karagiannis spoke of technology used for the first time, expressing the hope that any problems would be overcome. Professor Nikolopoulos was responding to a journalist's question about vaccines at a press conference at the University of Cyprus on the announcement of a new research on Covid-19.
He referred to the two candidate vaccines announced by Pfizer in collaboration with Biontech and Moderna. "These results we heard were from the interim analyses done in clinical trials," Professor Nikolopoulos said.
The companies, he said, "have set some criteria when they reach specific numbers of people diagnosed with Covid, to make special independent committees an effectiveness check."
"We heard about both vaccines using the same MRNA technology," he added. He explained that this technology inserts part of the virus genome into a liposoma, integrates the virus protein into the system and thus trains the immune system and makes antibodies for that coronavirus and that protein.
The results they announced "were impressive," he said. That is, he said, "we have an efficiency of over 90%. Well above the limit they were waiting for and with the calculations they had made for the sample size." He added, the calculations had been made with 60% efficiency, while the results announced showed over 90%.
However, Mr Nikolopoulos said "we have not yet seen the relevant publications", adding that "we will wait and see".
By the end of November, companies would also have to release safety data, he said, adding that United States regulators had set a limit for 50% of participants to have two months of follow-up after the second dose because they know that any unwanted side effects will be around that time. He added that in December, at least, these two companies will apply for urgent use of their vaccine with the US regulator (FDA) and perhaps the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
"What I would like to stress is that vaccine is one thing and vaccination is another," noted Mr Nikolopoulos. He explained that it will take some time for the population to be vaccinated and for vaccines to come to Cyprus, adding that there are some peculiarities about these vaccines in terms of their transport and maintenance.
In addition to organizing the state, he said, it also plays a role in how much each citizen will be convinced of the importance of vaccination.
"In practice, in the Republic of Cyprus and in other countries results will start to see in spring," he said.
The first two vaccines using this technology
Answering the same question, Professor of Microbiology/Molecular biology of the Medical School of the University of Nicosia Dr. Petros Karagiannis said that these two vaccines "are the first to use this technology".
So far, he said, "despite the wide range of vaccines we have, they are the first to use genetic material and indeed this messenger RNA that encodes for the protein – a spike in the virus, that is, the protein that the virus uses to invade the host cell."
Unfortunately, he added, one of them needs this freezing at -80 degrees, because RNA is very easily altered at room temperatures.
Professor Karagiannis expressed the hope that "these problems will be overcome because, as you can see, in countries that do not have the financial soundness to maintain such freezers it will be a problem".
Source: eyenews/CYPE
