Omicron specific vaccine to be ready in less than 2 months - Pfizer Regional leaders
Omicron specific vaccine to be ready in less than 2 months - Pfizer Regional leaders.
Pfizer's regional leaders in Africa and the Middle East, AfME, have stated that their Omicron-specific vaccination would be available in less than two months, while also announcing ambitions to deliver breakthrough medicines to 45 per cent more patients in the region this year.
At a virtual media roundtable, the leaders announced these and other initiatives, as well as reaffirming their commitment to leading the worldwide battle against COVID-19.
Pfizer's AfME Regional President, Patrick van der Loo, responded to inquiries by saying that the business was worried about having the most up-to-date vaccines against all strains of the COVID-19 virus.
"Last year, Pfizer discovered that Omicron would be one of the dominant strains. We've set aside a portion of our production capacity for omicron-specific vaccinations, which are currently being evaluated. We hope to receive the results in one or two months, and it will then be up to individual governments to decide whether they want the immunizations or the Omicron Specific vaccine."
He said that the Pfizer vaccine was proven to be effective against the virus after two doses.
"You'll have almost 91 per cent protection or efficacy with two doses, which means you'll have a 91 per cent probability of not getting infected with the virus." However, we discovered that Omicron, which is more recalcitrant, had a 70 per cent efficacy or protection with our vaccine. We can achieve Herd immunity with vaccines given to the majority of the population."
He asked the media to convey the correct messages and obtain accurate information from the appropriate sources, as inaccurate information contributes to vaccine hesitancy in some nations.
He went on to say that Pfizer has committed to providing 2 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to low and middle-income nations in 2021 and 2022, a total of at least 1 billion doses per year.
"We have given more than 1.1 billion doses to 101 poor and middle-income countries as of February 6, 2022, having met our goal for 2021." Depending on global demand, we intend to produce 120 million treatment courses of our innovative COVID-19 antiviral therapy (Paxlovid) in 2022. Paxlovid is already available in several countries around the Middle East, and we're in talks with more local governments," van der Loo said.
"By 2022, we will have reached over 4.1 million patients across AfME, encouraging us to enhance patient access by over 45 per cent."
"We are preparing over 50 product launches this year, in addition to the 100 innovations accessible in the region to help patients across six therapeutic areas – vaccines, oncology, inflammation and immunology, internal medicine, rare diseases, and anti-infectives and sterile injectables."
He revealed that through their 30 access programs in 11 countries across the region, they helped over 4,500 patients suffering from various oncology, inflammatory, and rare diseases last year and that they hope to launch more than 5 new programs this year, in addition to expanding some of the current ones to include new patients.
He said they hope to launch more than 5 new programs in 2022, in addition to expanding some of the current ones to include new treatments, after supporting the lives of over 4,500 patients suffering from various oncology, inflammatory, and rare diseases through our 30 access programs in 11 countries across the region last year.
"Our goal for this year is to help over 10,000 patients across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe."
Yasser El Dershaby, Vice President and Regional Medical Lead at Pfizer AfME, stated that patients and innovations were at the heart of what they did.
"Pfizer has committed $24.5 million to date, with an additional $33.8 million projected in the following years to ramp up production."
He stated that in 2021, AfME produced data in 44 publications, 20 non-interventional studies (NIS), and 18 clinical trials and that this year, they plan to bring more Phase I and II clinical trials to South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Gulf countries, as well as develop several programs to strengthen research capabilities and develop infrastructure.
