Double Shot COVID-19 Vaccine Poses New Challenge In Tackling The Pandemic

London: Scientists all over the world have been hard at work to develop a vaccine that has the potential to meet the threat posed by the coronavirus. The initial success of the vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca gives positive hope.

However, one shot of the dose is good and two would be better. This would put double the pressure on the manufacturers to provide enough vaccines to people in billions. The vaccines are already being brought out before the usual time it takes to develop a vaccine.

Oxford-AstraZeneca and Moderna Inc. both are conducting final-stage testing with two doses for their vaccines. Producing one-shot vaccine is already proving a lot of work, two dozes would mean adding an extra burden to logistics and manufacturing, thus, complicating the process even further.

Moreover, it would not be easy to distribute widely, and likely disadvantage developing nations even more.

According to some experts, a vaccine’s efficacy wanes over time and repeat doses are needed, potentially every year. “A one-shot vaccine would be ideal, but the first vaccines are highly unlikely to meet this very high threshold,” said Michael Kinch, a vaccine specialist and associate vice chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis.

“As we hopefully move from whether there will be a vaccine to how to apply this, logistics are going to become the absolute most important topic,” reported Bloomberg.

The impact of the decision to manufacture two-shot vaccines is also showing on the market. Only learning about AstraZeneca’s two dose regimen, the shares of the company went down to 1.5 per cent gain from 10 per cent gain. The US-traded shares fell 4 per cent in New York.

According to research published on Monday in The Lancet medical journal, early study of more than 1,000 participants receiving the Oxford vaccine achieved the strongest immune response in 10 who received two doses, indicating that it might be the surest approach. The university’s researchers noted that some recipients may get protection from just one dose and that ultimately the data may show that the majority of people are protected by a single shot.

Many scientists across the world are working on two dose regimen of the vaccine including Chinese Tianjin-based CanSino Biologics Inc. AstraZeneca has committed to deliver first of 30 million doses to the UK by September and 100 million by the end of the year.