Australia is trying to prepare for a plan to produce an mRNA technology vaccine in this country. (Source: Reuters) In a recent meeting with the Senate, Mr. David Luchetti of the Australian Ministry of Industry and Science said that the Australian authorities have asked manufacturers to detail the potential for vaccine development in Australia. Australia. Currently, the Australian Ministry of Technology and Science has received applications from 15 companies, of which 5 are under consideration. The available information shows that if the production of mRNA technology vaccines on the basis of existing factories, it may take Australia 1-2 years to produce the first batches of vaccines. However, if a completely new factory is built, it may take 3-4 years for a new mRNA technology vaccine to be born in Australia. So at the moment it is difficult to predict when Australia will be able to produce an mRNA vaccine. Compared with traditional technology, mRNA promises to be more effective, faster, safer, with fewer side effects; can compare the difference like a motorbike and a jet. To make it easy to understand, the process of synthesizing each protein in the human body is like solving a complex math problem, mRNA becomes a manual of mathematical formulas. If humans can create a vaccine in the form of artificial mRNA, when injected into the body, the mRNA will disguise itself as a “thief” that sneaks in but does not wake up the “host”, it silently builds a defense system. are antibody proteins, so that when the virus attacks, it will be destroyed by that system. Regarding the possibility of Moderna company building a vaccine factory in Australia, Mr. David Luchetti said that Australia is currently in discussions with Moderna about this plan, but until now it is still uncertain about what. (according to VOV)

Australia is trying to prepare for a plan to produce an mRNA technology vaccine in this country. Source: Reuters However, if a completely new factory is built, it may take 3 to 4 years for a new mRNA technology vaccine to be available in Australia. So at the moment it is difficult to predict when Australia will be able to produce an mRNA vaccine. Regarding the possibility of Moderna company building a vaccine production plant in Australia, Mr. David Luchetti said that Australia is currently in discussions with Moderna about this plan, but until now it is still uncertain about what. / .

Jacob Hopkins, the first volunteer directly infected with the virus These volunteers have lined up to participate in the “human trial,” which has long been successfully used to develop vaccines for diseases such as typhoid and cholera. The world’s first human trial for Covid-19 began in the UK in March of this year, as scientists tried to determine the minimum dose of virus needed to infect volunteers. from 18 to 30 years old. Alastair Fraser-Urquhart, human trial volunteer Alastair Fraser-Urquhart “registered immediately” to participate in the trial and also became the manager of 1Day Sooner, a British non-profit that advocates for volunteers to participate in research studies. save on humans. “We are really, really lucky that an mRNA vaccine is a viable platform to start with, but there is no guarantee it will,” he said, “And even if it turns out to be completely useless. , thanks to a test like this, you can detect that in a matter of weeks instead of months.” Mr Fraser-Urquhart was one of the few to take part in the first phase of the trial, in which volunteers were screened before going into isolation at the Royal Free hospital in London. A few days later, the virus was injected into Fraser-Urquhart’s nose by a scientist wearing full protective gear while he lay in bed wearing only a T-shirt and jeans. There were about six other researchers, all covered from head to toe, standing in that room. “One of them stood in the corner of the room and counted down the seconds… as if it were a rocket launch,” Fraser-Urquhart said. He said the experience was both terrifying and memorable. “In the same room with such a large amount of pure virus… it looks like normal water. I didn’t expect to see coronavirus like this.” According to Jacob Hopkins, the first volunteer directly infected with the virus, after being injected, they will lie down for 10 minutes before sitting up and holding the position for another 20 minutes. “When we finished, we were… high five. It was a really weird moment, it was like “that’s great, Covid!”? And then it all really started.” After contracting the virus, the participants were monitored 24 hours a day for at least 14 days, and blood samples and nasal swabs were collected every day. Both Fraser-Urquhart and Hopkins felt fine for the first few days, but had to go through a few “difficult” days before recovering. “Honestly, it wasn’t easy, but it was an extraordinary experience, and one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life,” Hopkins said. “When you contribute to a project that can bring a lot of good… it feels good to be a part of it.” After discharge, the participants were followed up for a year so the researchers could detect any long-term symptoms. Overall, each person will be supported around £4,500 (VND 146.8 million) for their contribution. Fraser-Urquhart donated his first donation to The Vaccine Alliance, and plans to donate the rest to other charities. “It’s good to be able to demonstrate that at least some of the volunteers participate purely out of compassion,” he said. “Actually, this support never influenced my decision to join.” Some scientists have hesitated to expose volunteers to Sars-CoV-2 – the virus behind COVID-19 – because it currently has no cure, although there are several methods. The treatment has been shown to be effective. Meanwhile, some advocates of the trial argue that the coronavirus poses a low risk to young and healthy people and offers high benefits to society. These benefits include the ability to accelerate the development of a second-generation vaccine, as developing countries grapple with inadequate demand. They can also be used to compare people who are suitable for vaccines, develop treatments, and advance the scientific understanding of the virus.

According to the latest study on the Covid-19 vaccine of Pfizer/BioNTech, conducted by Director of the French Pasteur Institute Olivier Schwartz and colleagues, the company’s vaccine shows signs of being less effective before the B.1.617 strain from India, n , but can still protect the vaccinated person from this strain. Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine is one of the fastest to make yet. Behind that breakthrough in speed is 30 years of research and development by a Turkish-born doctor couple. Before the pandemic broke out, Dr. Ugur Sahin spent years researching mRNA, a type of gene-guided technology that could be implanted in the body to help it fight viruses and other threats. In January 2020, a few days before the coronavirus was first diagnosed in Europe, he used this knowledge to design a version of the vaccine on his home computer. Doctor couple Ugur Sahin (left) and Özlem Türeci (right). Photo: BBC. The idea of ​​pregnancy 30 years ago The story of the first Covid-19 vaccine licensed in the West began 30 years ago in a rural area of ​​Germany. Two young doctors, children of Turkish immigrants, fall in love, vowing to jointly invent a new treatment for cancer. Dr Sahin was born in the city of Iskenderun, Turkey. When he was 4 years old, his family moved to Cologne, Germany. There, his parents worked in a Ford factory. Dr. Türeci’s father, a surgeon, also came to Germany around the same time to work at a Catholic hospital in the town. Sahin and Türeci say that when they were young, it was their frustration with the plight of cancer patients that motivated them to study mRNA. “We realized that with standard therapy, very quickly we wouldn’t be able to do anything more to help the patient,” they said. The two then began researching new treatments based on programming the body’s immune system to defeat cancer as an infectious disease. In 2001, the two founded Ganymed Pharmaceuticals GmbH, their first company to develop antibody treatments. “Our motivation is to bridge the gap between science and life. As we research, we see solutions that were not possible before for our patients,” said Dr. Türeci. One day in 2002, Sahin and Türeci left the lab during their lunch break and went to the marriage registration office, where they became officially husband and wife. Photo: The Wall Street Journal. In 2008, the couple founded BioNTech to expand their research from antibody treatments to mRNA. Since Ganymed Company was sold for $1.4 billion in 2016, BioNTech has been their sole focus. All executives at BioNTech are scientists, including the chief financial officer and salesperson. Half of BioNTech’s staff are women, including scientists of 60 different nationalities. Speed ​​of light One Saturday, January 7, 2020, after reading a research paper, Dr. Sahin was sure that the disease little known in China would soon engulf the world. Immediately, he began designing 10 potential vaccines against the disease, one of which later became the vaccine that now dominates vaccination campaigns in the European Union (EU) and the US. That same day, he announced that BioNTech would redirect research to combat a virus that had yet to be named and diagnosed in Europe. Mr. Jeggle, who has worked with Dr. Sahin since 2001, recalls: “To say I was surprised is an understatement. Because really, the company didn’t have much capital at that time and we were focusing on cancer research.” Project Lightspeed, as Dr. Sahin calls it, will develop a vaccine in months, not years as is usual. Handshake between two big men BioNTech previously worked with Pfizer, a multinational pharmaceutical corporation, to develop an influenza vaccine based on mRNA technology. So when Dr. Sahin needed a partner to organize the testing, production and global distribution of vaccines, he knew who to turn to. In March 2020, the two companies signed a cooperation agreement. A month later, the first human trials of the vaccine began. Vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech were subsequently licensed for use in the UK, US and other European countries, respectively, with high efficacy confirmed in many countries. According to the latest financial report, Pfizer predicts vaccine sales will reach $26 billion in 2021. However, Dr. Sahin said that any profits made will be reinvested. He affirmed that the goal of BioNTech has not changed: Bringing cancer treatment regimens based on mRNA and other innovative methods to the market. Sold commercially under the name Comirnaty, Pfizer’s vaccine is 90-95% effective in many countries. Storage and transportation conditions were once major obstacles for Pfizer’s vaccines. This affects the distribution of vaccines and the accessibility of the people, because not all countries or localities have super cold storage available. Even advanced countries like the United States and Europe find this difficult at first. Under pressure from drug regulators in many countries (and the need to expand the market ahead of competitors), Pfizer increased the temperature and storage time of Comirnaty. Accordingly, an unthawed vial of Comirnaty can be stored at 2ºC to 8ºC for 5 days to a month. Epidemic prospect Recently, Dr. Sahin predicted that the epidemic situation will continue to spread until mid-2022 due to the outbreak in India and the continued scarcity of vaccines. The father of the vaccine Comirnaty advised that governments should consider using a combination of different vaccine manufacturers. He asserted that the pandemic will not end until herd immunity is achieved worldwide. Dr Sahin and Türeci also say they are expanding their manufacturing alliance to include more than 30 companies to produce more vaccines and deliver them to countries like India. In Vietnam, on May 18, the Ministry of Health signed a contract with Pfizer Company to buy 31 million doses of the vaccine, which is expected to be provided in the third and fourth quarters of 2021. Four former US presidents join the Covid-19 vaccine campaign Former US Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama together appeared in a media campaign to urge Americans to get vaccinated.

Kariko Katalin. Photo: Euronews What is mRNA technology? Vaccines with mRNA technology are Covid-19 vaccine most awaited. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pioneered and quickly approved this vaccine. Compared with traditional technology, mRNA promises to be more effective, faster, safer, with fewer side effects; can compare the difference like a motorbike and a jet. The concept of mRNA was learned in 9th grade, biology lectures taught that mRNA has the function of conveying information that regulates the structure of proteins. Letter m = messenger = information. To make it easy to understand, the process of synthesizing each protein in the human body is like solving a complex math problem, mRNA becomes a manual of mathematical formulas. If humans can create a vaccine in the form of artificial mRNA, when injected into the body, the mRNA will disguise itself as a “thief” that sneaks in but does not wake up the “host”, it silently builds a defense system. are antibody proteins, so that when the virus attacks, it will be destroyed by that system. mRNA urges, haunts Kariko Katalin Kariko Katalin is obsessed with mRNA, she understands this is a very special type of RNA that holds all the secrets to creating billions of billions of proteins in the human body. Theoretically, science can completely manipulate mRNA to create a targeted protein, doing that, mRNA becomes the most powerful weapon to control a variety of diseases. But that’s just a theory. Understanding of mRNA in the 1980s was still very limited. In principle, when injecting mRNA into the human body, it is an allergen, so the body’s defense system will immediately destroy it before the mRNA can perform its functions. That is, the mRNA vaccine, no matter how cleverly disguised, is still a “thief”. But what is more serious, is that the human body’s instinctive resistance to the “thief” is too strong, creating a severe immune response that is potentially fatal. After a lot of failures, most scientists gave up, no one cares about mRNA anymore, that knowledge is scattered on the pages of 9th and 10th grade biology textbooks, so that students can take exams with these questions. boring question. Kariko Katalin was undaunted and continued to dive into research. All efforts paid off when Katalin’s work attracted the attention of two young companies Moderna (Canada) and BioNTech (Germany), after which the giant Pfizer (USA) decided to invest in the production of Covid vaccines. -19 by mRNA technology. That is like winning a ticket to Mars. mRNA technology will not stop at vaccine production, but in the not too distant future, a series of “diseases” such as cancer, stroke, or other dangerous diseases also promise to be “cleared”. The floating life of Kariko Katalin Kariko Katalin was born on January 17, 1955 in Szolnok (Hungary), in a cottage without amenities, but full of love for a family home. Kariko Katalin inherited a gene for biology from her father, a pork salesman, a gene for research perseverance from her mother, an accountant, and was inspired by her passion for biology from the teachers at the school she attended. study. Due to poverty, Kariko Katalin devoted herself to her university years, winning a scholarship to the People’s Republic of Hungary, the most prestigious scholarship at that time. Katalin went on to study for a doctorate, then worked at the biological research center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Szeged. Kariko Katalin pursues mRNA technology. It is an area that requires a lot of investment. Hungary in the 1980s was the most liberal and open country in the former Soviet bloc, but it also didn’t have the money to fund major research. Kariko Katalin lost her job at the age of 30. She initially looked for a job in the European Union, but nowhere would accept it, because Katalin had no significant scientific achievements. One afternoon in 1985, Kariko Katalin and her husband took their 2-year-old daughter out of Hungary to find her way to America. The only asset of any value is the old car, which sold for £900 on the black market. To make it through, Kariko Katalin had to cut open her daughter’s toy teddy bear, insert £900, and then sew it back up. Initially in the US, Kariko Katalin was accepted to work at Temple University, but soon her group was disbanded because of lack of funding. In 1989, Kariko Katalin joined the faculty of pharmacy at the University of Pennsylvania. Although she is a full professor, this is the most difficult time, the salary is very low and no one believes her. Things took a turn for the worse in 1995, Kariko couldn’t get funding, couldn’t find a project, and the University of Pennsylvania decided to fire her. It was a horrible time. The room Kariko Katalin lived in was leaking in every evening rain. She has just been diagnosed with cancer while her husband is in Hungary and cannot come to the US because of visa problems. How much time and dedication work seems to be slipping out of hand. “I started to suspect that maybe I wasn’t good, I wasn’t smart. I try to tell myself that everything is here, I just need to do better experiments,” said Kariko Katalin. Turning point In 1998, Kariko Katalin finally received the first $100,000 grant. Strangely enough, that year she also met a man of her life. It was that fateful afternoon, Kariko Katalin went to photocopy documents, she met Drew Weissmen, a colleague who had just moved from the National Institutes of Health. In the meantime, Kariko Katalin told Weissmen about the idea of ​​creating mRNA. Immediately Weissmen saw before his eyes a priceless fortune. Weissmen decided to invest, collaborate with Kariko Katalin, determined to develop mRNA technology in the field of biomedicine. In 2005, the attenuated version of mRNA was released. After reading the study, Derrick Rossi, a Canadian stem cell expert who is doing a PhD student at Stanford University, was amazed. The time has come. Realizing a super profitable business opportunity, Rossi quietly sought investment capital, he founded a small company, named Moderna. In Germany, a new research team also discovered the potential of Kariko Katalin, a new company BioNTech was founded, based in the US. In 2013, BioNTech hired Karko Katalin as a senior mRNA specialist. Moderna and BioNTech did not do much until 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, Moderna promoted the production of vaccines by mRNA technology, adding the company BioNTech invested by Pfizer billions of dollars determined to turn their ideas into Kariko Katalin come true.

The root cause is believed to be 30 years of not trying to clear people’s doubts about vaccine side effects, according to the above article. Nikkei Asia 10/5. The landmark court ruling of 1992 During the 1980s, Japan possessed world-leading vaccine technology for the treatment of chickenpox, encephalitis, and pertussis. These technologies are licensed to the US and other countries. But vaccine development in Japan came to a near complete halt following a 1992 court ruling ordering the government to compensate people for side effects after vaccination. The Japanese people see this as a landmark ruling that opens the way for victims to seek compensation on a broader scale. A Japanese official injects a vaccine against Covid-19. Photo: Reuters. The Japanese government did not appeal the ruling. Vaccination was also no longer mandatory after the government revised the law in 1994. Since then, vaccination rates in Japan have declined as parents become more concerned about side effects. The AIDS crisis also has a negative impact. In 1996, a Japanese health ministry official was convicted of negligent manslaughter following a scandal involving HIV-contaminated blood products. Despite the government’s efforts to hold responsible, the incident still made officials in Japan feel that they would suffer the consequences if anything happened, while the politicians were unharmed. Gaps in policy Japan is currently facing a “vaccine gap”. In the US and Europe, the product licensing process takes only a few years, but in Japan it is more than 10 years. The Japanese Ministry of Health has issued a special license for the Pfizer vaccine to be administered to the elderly, but this licensing process only applies to foreign vaccines. Meanwhile, the US administration has accelerated vaccine development since the 2001 anthrax attack. When there is a public health crisis in the country, the US Department of Health and Human Services will coordinate with other agencies. research institutes and pharmaceutical companies to respond appropriately. The agency also supports development budgets, clinical trials, as well as emergency approvals. The global vaccine market is growing by nearly 7% per year. New vaccines are released every time a new deadly infectious disease emerges, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Ebola. The mRNA technology used in making vaccines has been studied for the past 20 years and is being applied to fight Covid-19. But private companies in Japan can hardly solve this problem alone because of the lack of motivation to promote the development, purchase, or stockpile of vaccines. Japan currently does not have a domestically produced vaccine. Photo: AFP. “There is a gap in the vaccine because there is still a gap in policy,” said Tetsuo Nakayama, a professor at Kitasato University in Tokyo. One can mention the case of UMN Pharma, a Japanese biotech company that uses new technology to develop flu vaccines. UMN Pharma used to spend more than $100 million to build a manufacturing plant, but the company’s application for a license was rejected in 2017. The grounds for the rejection were that the product “lacked clinical importance” compared to vaccines. available. UMN Pharma currently has negative total assets and is owned by Shionogi – another Japanese pharmaceutical company. The vaccine made by UMN Pharma has been approved in the US. This has led one in the Japanese vaccine industry to question whether anyone still wants to make new vaccines in the country. Complicated legal regulations Technology and research talent are also flowing outside of Japan. “Japan has a lot of regulations but it has a weak support system,” said one virus expert. The country has only two research facilities that can handle the most dangerous viruses. But one of the two establishments has only recently reopened because it was previously opposed by the local people. Public Administration Reform Minister Taro Kono was appointed on January 18 as the person in charge of Japan’s vaccination campaign. Photo: Japan Times. Vaccine research in Japan is subject to complicated regulations by many ministries. Experiments involving gene editing are limited to the Cartagena Protocol. This is an international legal document on biosafety management with genetically modified organisms that Japan has approved. Meanwhile, Europe exempts pharmaceutical companies from applying the Cartagena Protocol. The United States has not yet ratified this document. Japanese manufacturers even ignore the domestic market. Takeda Pharmaceutical, for example, has no plans to license its dengue vaccine in Japan. The same thing happened with the vaccine made from tobacco leaves of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma company. In the immediate future, Tokyo has quickly appointed a minister in charge of the Covid-19 vaccine. But products made by AnGes, Shionogi, and other Japanese companies are not expected to be approved before 2022.

Clinical trials of the Pfizer vaccine showed up to 95-96% effectiveness against invading coronaviruses. According to the New York Times , each batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with 7.5 million doses is produced in 60 days. The most advanced mRNA technology The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine uses mRNA technology. This vaccine is recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for use in people 12 years of age and older. The SARS-CoV-2 virus carries proteins that allow it to enter human body cells. These proteins – known as spike proteins – are the subject of research in the production of vaccines and drugs to treat Covid-19. Coronavirus. Photo: New York Times. Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine is based on the genetic makeup of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to create artificial protein spikes. Vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA), a type of genetic material that human cells process to make proteins. The messenger RNA molecules are very fragile, so they will be broken down by natural enzymes in the human body if injected directly into the human body. To protect the mRNA in the vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech wraps the mRNA molecules in an oil bubble made of microscopic fat particles. mRNA molecule. Photo: New York Times. Due to their unstable nature, the mRNA molecules in the vaccine will be degraded at normal temperatures. Therefore, vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech need to be stored at deep cold temperatures, at least -70 degrees Celsius or less. To keep the vaccine of Pfizer-BioNTech stable, special containers are required, including dry ice, heat sensors and GPS trackers. Inject vaccines into the body After vaccination, the molecular particles in the vaccine will collide and fuse with human body cells, releasing mRNA. Human body cells will read the genetic content contained in the mRNA and from there produce protein spikes. The mRNA molecule from the vaccine is eventually destroyed by human cells forever. Vaccine molecules interact with cells. Photo: New York Times. Some protein spikes will form spikes, which rise to the surface of the cell and protrude outward. Cells that have been affected by the vaccine also break down the protein into small pieces on the surface. The protein spikes protruding from the cell, and the protein molecule on the cell surface, will eventually wake up the human immune system. When cells that have interacted with the vaccine die, their fragments contain many protein spikes and protein fragments. These fragments will be picked up by a type of immune cell called molecular antigen-presenting cells (APCs). APC cells activate helper-T cells. Photo: New York Times. Fragments of protein spikes will stick to the surface of APC cells, until helper-T cells detect these fragments. The helper-T cells then trigger the immune system to produce antibodies against the coronavirus. Antibody production Other immune cells, called B cells, can collide with the coronavirus spike protein on the surface of the cell that has interacted with the vaccine, or the floating protein spike debris. Some B cells can adhere to protein spikes. Helper-T cells activate B cells that help produce antibodies. Photo: New York Times. When B cells are activated by helper-T cells, they begin to produce antibodies that attack the spike protein. Antibodies neutralize corona virus. Photo: New York Times. The antibody produced will attach to the spike protein of the invading corona virus. Antibodies mark the virus for later destruction by the body’s immune system. More importantly, the antibody prevents the viral spike protein from attaching to the healthy cells of the human body. To destroy the virus, APC cells activate another type of immune cell called cytotoxic-T cells. This cell is responsible for finding and destroying cells that have been infected by the virus through the signal of protein spike fragments on the surface. Cytotoxic-T cells destroy infected cells. Photo: New York Times. Remember information about corona virus Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine is given in two doses, 21 days apart, to help the immune system work most effectively against the corona virus. But because of the lack of time to study, scientists cannot be sure how long the immunity created by the vaccine will last. Preliminary research shows that within 10 days of receiving the first dose, the vaccine begins to build a strong immune system against the virus. It is likely that, after several months of vaccination, the number of antibodies and cytotoxic-T cells will gradually decrease. But the immune system also contains special cells that store information about the corona virus for years, even decades. Each vial of vaccine contains 5 injection doses of 0.3 ml. Vaccines need to be thawed and diluted with saline. After dilution, the vaccine must be used within 6 hours.

Australia ordered 25 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine. AAP photo. Moderna pharmaceutical company said Australia will receive two batches of vaccines, including a booster batch of vaccine capable of dealing with new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel also said that the company intends to set up a vaccine production facility in Australia this year and this intention is being discussed by the company with the Australian government. Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine has not been approved in Australia, but the company said it will quickly submit an application to the Therapeutic Goods Administration for approval. Moderna’s vaccine is manufactured on the same mRNA technology platform as Pfizer’s vaccine and is considered highly effective in preventing deaths and hospitalizations due to Covid-19. Moderna’s vaccine has not yet been approved for use by the Australian Drug Administration, but it is being used widely in vaccination programs in the US. Thus, with the agreement with Moderna, Australia has ordered a total of nearly 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, enough to vaccinate nearly four times the population of this country.

According to the news agency DW The final decision on whether or not to give up the copyright for the COVID-19 vaccine will be decided by the 164-member World Trade Organization (WTO). Of these, more than 100 countries have supported negotiations towards the abolition of measures to protect intellectual property rights with the COVID-19 vaccine. However, as long as a country disagrees, the WTO cannot approve this proposal. However, there are still countries that oppose the US move. Press conference on this issue on May 6, a spokesman for the German government warned that this would make pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies lose motivation to research and develop vaccines, negatively impacting. the entire vaccine industry in general. Therefore “the protection of intellectual property is a resource for creativity and must be maintained in the future”. The waiver of the vaccine license does not help much in the goal of increasing world vaccination coverage. The reason, “the factors that limit the number of vaccines vaccinated are production capacity and quality standards, not the copyright story”. Protect effort and gi Oh degree ng l Ugh c research According to radio CNN In the current context, giving up intellectual property rights with vaccines is a very complicated problem. A vaccine that has been successfully researched and developed is a collection of a series of different ingredients and materials and each ingredient and ingredient is copyrighted by at least one company or researcher. wisdom. For example, inside the vaccine company Pfizer (USA) and Biotechnology Company BioNTech (Germany) produces 280 ingredients and materials are licensed from many parties from 19 countries. Once a waiver scenario occurs, anyone can freely access and use the ingredients and ingredients in this vaccine – causing significant damage to Pfizer, BioNTech and others. holding the copyrights of those ingredients and materials. Medical staff in the capital Berlin (Germany) prepare the vials of vaccines to be vaccinated in April. Photo: DW “A single dose of vaccine contains all intellectual property from licensing agreements, copyrights, industrial designs to trade secret protection laws, patent secrets. If the copyright for the COVID-19 vaccine is abandoned, how can this be enforced? ” – Intellectual property rights expert Achal Prabhala of the Shuttleworth Foundation (South Africa) analyzed. Mr. Prabhala also affirmed that intellectual copyright is the backbone of the entire pharmaceutical and medical industry because it is difficult and time-consuming to research and create a product that is safe to use in humans. The recognition and protection of copyright is a way of respecting the efforts of researchers. The risk of technology secrets disclosure Another equally important issue when it comes to vaccine licensing issues is the protection of vaccine technology and formulation. Currently, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna (USA) are the pharmaceutical companies and technology companies leading the use of new generation mRNA technology to significantly increase the effectiveness of vaccines. This technology is also evaluated to be highly applicable not only in the prevention of COVID-19 but also in other diseases in the future. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies in Russia or China have not fully applied this technology; Vaccines that these countries produce and put into use do not have mRNA technology, so the effectiveness level is also somewhat not as high. “Pfizer and Moderna took years of research to develop these vaccines. China and Russia and other countries both want to access it. Their goal is to possess the underlying technology to make vaccines not only to prevent COVID-19 but also for other diseases, ”said former US Ambassador to China Gary Locke. Reuters . In the event that the vaccine rights are abandoned, Beijing will likely force the above-mentioned pharmaceutical firms to hand over the technology if they want to operate in the Chinese market. On the other hand, Beijing may also ask other companies to generate income for such information without fear of being criticized for stealing foreign company secrets. If pharmaceutical companies refuse to provide information, they will face many legal consequences. Remember, intellectual property rights have been a big question between the US and China for many years now, and has been one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the US-China trade war in 2018. • EU completed a contract to buy 1.8 billion vaccine money Associated Reuters May 10 quoted Mr. Thierry Breton – Commissioner in charge of industry and domestic markets the European Union (EU) said that this bloc will not continue to buy vaccine COVID-19 by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (UK-Switzerland). Swedish) production. The reason AstraZeneca has not met its commitment to supply vaccines to the EU. By the end of the first quarter of 2021, the EU received only 67 million doses of vaccine from AstraZeneca, although the initial target was 300 million doses. It is expected that in the second quarter, the EU will receive an additional 250 million doses. The remaining 280 million doses will be delivered to the EU by AstraZeneca during the last six months of 2021. In addition to legal disputes with the EU, AstraZeneca’s vaccine reputation has also deteriorated due to information related to adverse reactions. Some European countries such as Denmark have stopped using AstraZeneca’s vaccine, while in most other countries in the region, this vaccine is only used for people over 55 years old. After discontinuing the contract with AstraZeneca, the EU plans to order more vaccines using mRNA technology such as Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna. In fact, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said over the weekend that the EU has officially completed a contract to buy up to 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine over the next two years.

The Peter Doherty Institute of Infectious and Immunology will join Monash University, the University of Melbourne and a number of other research centers as the recipients of funding to develop the above plan. Vaccination against Covid-19 in Australia is facing many challenges due to lack of supply. (Source: Reuters) Scientists at the Peter Doherty Institute said they are working on a “preventive” vaccine with mRNA technology that can be modified to fight variations. Mr. Merlino said that this plan is an important event, not only for Victoria but for the entire country of Australia. Besides, he affirmed that the support budget will be increased when the project is developed in the future. Australia is currently only capable of producing AstraZeneca’s vaccines, with the initial plan being that the CSL facility in the city of Melbourne will produce more than 50 million doses. Vaccination against Covid-19 in Australia is facing many challenges due to the lack of vaccine supply, as well as the safety of the vaccine in relation to the side effects of thrombosis. (Reuters)

Acting Premier of Victoria, James Merlino. (Source: abc.net.au) On the morning of April 21, Mr. James Merlino, acting Premier of Victoria ( Australia ) announced that it would provide AUD 50 million (approximately US $ 38.6 million) to launch a project to develop vaccine production technology for mRNA at state vaccine research facilities. Under the project, it will take at least 12 months for Australia to be able to produce any vaccine under it mRNA technology . The move will pave the way for vaccines using mRNA technology such as Pfizer and Moderna to be produced in Australia, according to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Sydney. The Peter Doherty Institute of Infectious and Immunology will join Monash University, the University of Melbourne and a number of other research centers as the recipients of the funding to develop the above plan. Scientists at the Peter Doherty Institute say they are working on a “preventive” vaccine with mRNA technology that can be modified to fight variations. Mr. Merlino said that this plan is an important event, not only for Victoria but for the whole of Australia. Besides, he affirmed that the support budget will be increased when the project is developed in the future. Australia is currently only capable vaccine production of AstraZeneca with the initial plan that the CSL facility in the city of Melbourne will produce more than 50 million doses. Vaccination work COVID-19 Australia is facing many challenges due to the lack of vaccine supplies, as well as the safety of this vaccine related to the side effects of thrombosis.

The world has been getting COVID-19 vaccination for several months. Besides the hope that the COVID-19 pandemic will soon be controlled, there is no small concern with the fact that a series of new virus variants have appeared and are still appearing. It can be said that the global market is in the race between the vaccine and the unknown virus variants. The COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson started being distributed in the US in early March amid dangerous spreading of the variants. Photo: GETTY IMAGES Many dangerous variations Virus strain means there is a mutation, changes in the genetic structure of the virus, causing the virus to change the way it works. In addition to the old virus strain, the world currently has many new variants such as B.1.1.7 (originated from England, has spread to more than 90 countries), B.1.351 from South Africa (has spread to more than 40 countries). , P1 and P2 from Brazil (has spread to 25 countries, some cases have been infected and recovered from being re-infected with variant P1), D614G from Europe, A.23.1 from Rwanda. In which the variant appeared from South Africa is said to be the most difficult to prevent and the most dangerous. Studies show that the vaccine strain B.1.351 of the vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech and of AstraZeneca / Oxford is not as effective as the old vaccine. Clinical trials of vaccines by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax also showed that the ability to prevent this variant is not high. These variants – with a faster rate of spread, a higher risk of death, and an easier way to outdo existing vaccines – threaten efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. And yet, the appearance of the variants also points to another concern: More dangerous variants will emerge in the future if the world fails to win the current race. The current pace of immunization globally is worryingly slow, especially in poor countries. It can be understood that even though rich countries vaccinate rapidly, new variants may emerge in poor countries that have not yet had adequate immunization coverage. Understanding these risks, vaccine developers are working hard to increase effectiveness in coping with variants. And the global health organizations are also making efforts to accelerate the speed of global distribution and vaccination. These are difficult times. This will be our toughest time to see which side wins. If we can hold on for another month or six, there’s a big difference. TS PETER HOTEZ , Rector of Baylor College of Tropical Medicine (USA) Vaccine firms’ efforts The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines and Moderna’s vaccines (both doses) both use the mRNA molecule as the foundation. This molecule instructs the body to make a mutant protein found in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which signals the immune system to fight off the mutant protein if encountered. The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine (two doses) uses a reprogrammed version of another virus, adenovirus, that uses the DNA encoding the mutant protein of SARS-CoV-2. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine (single dose) also uses adenovirus. With these two vaccine platforms, once they want to redirect to deal with new variants, developers will need to modify their DNA or mRNA codes. Fortunately, this can be done simply and quickly, but the disadvantage is that it will require expensive changes to the vaccine production process and more time to produce and distribute. Hoping to avoid these shortcomings, Pfizer is now considering the possibility of adding a third dose to the current two-dose regimen to reinforce the effectiveness of preventing new variants. Talk to the radio NBC News At the end of February, Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla was confident that “the third dose will increase the antibody response 10 to 20 times”. Moderna is also working on the possibility of giving one-dose booster to the current two-dose regimen. In addition, at the end of February Moderna sent a version of the vaccine optimized to cope with the variant in South Africa to the US National Institutes of Health for further study. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson is confident its vaccine is resistant to many more variants because it is developed later than the above brands. Johnson & Johnson are also working on a two-dose vaccine (currently only available in one-dose version). Last week Pfizer announced that it would soon launch the trial of COVID-19, a positive news that gives further hope to quell the pandemic. Meanwhile according to the news agency Reuters Currently, many Asian countries are speeding up the distribution of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, after a period of concerns about the safety of the information that this vaccination causes thrombosis appeared in Europe. Earlier this week, many countries and territories in Asia activated vaccination. Some regional leaders are also vaccinated to reinforce confidence, including the Head of the Administration of Taiwan Institute – Mr. To Trinh Xuong, Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha. In Europe, after a short hiatus, many continental countries have also restored this vaccination. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received the first dose last weekend and said “nothing strange”. The AstraZeneca vaccine is one of the few first available COVID-19 vaccines, available at a low cost and according to Reuters This vaccine will be at the heart of COVID-19 vaccination programs in most developing countries. The positive side of “vaccine diplomacy” Currently, the giants of vaccine COVID-19 (USA, China, India) are trying to expand distribution of vaccine globally. Compared to the US, the two countries India and China are more enthusiastic about implementing the campaign “vaccine diplomacy”. China has announced it will donate vaccines to 53 countries, and has already shipped millions of doses of its domestic vaccine to Asia, Africa and Latin America. When asked if the US could surpass China in “vaccine diplomacy” last week, the State Department spokesman did not respond. However, according to the news site The Hill The US is working with countries in the quartet group (India, Australia, Japan) to discuss providing vaccines to Asian countries to both stop the COVID-19 epidemic and as a counterbalance to China’s “vaccine diplomacy” campaign. National. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed this with three of their counterparts from February 18. During a meeting with G7 leaders last month, US President Joe Biden promised that the United States would donate 4 billion doses to the World Health Organization (WHO) Gavi vaccine alliance and possibly many more.