STAT+: Pharmalittle: New Covid-19 vaccine developers expect nothing in return; COVAX distribution falls short of goals
Good morning, everyone, and nice to see you again after a long break. For those of you who similarly disappeared, we hope the respite was rewarding and invigorating, because — you guessed it — the familiar routine of online meetings, phone calls, and deadlines has magically returned. To cope, we are brewing cups of stimulation from a new batch of experimental blends. Our choice today is — drumroll, please … bananas Foster. Yes, this is a thing. So feel free to join us. Meanwhile, please enjoy a few tidbits as we play catch up and get set for the daily journey. Hope all goes well and you conquer the world. And of course, do stay in touch. …
For some vaccine developers, the pandemic has had a silver lining in billions of dollars in profits, but a new vaccine rolling out soon in India is taking the opposite approach: Its developers are getting zilch, The Washington Post writes. The Indian government granted emergency approval to a vaccine made by Biological E. This “second generation” vaccine was developed by researchers at the Texas Children’s Hospital’s Center for Vaccine Development and then licensed to Biological E. through a commercialization team at Baylor College of Medicine. “We’re not trying to make money,” said Peter Hotez of the Center for Vaccine Development. “We just want to see people get vaccinated.”
COVAX, the World Health Organization initiative to distribute vaccines equally across the globe, shipped out a record 309 million doses in December but still ended the year far short of its goal for the year, The Washington Post tells us. The vaccine-sharing program shipped out a little more than 900 million doses to 144 countries in 2021, which is far short of the 2 billion-dose goal the program had set for itself, according to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which co-directs COVAX. Still, December was the initiative’s best month, with vaccines distributed above the 155-million mark for the first time.
Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…
