[#3] Vaccine race. Advance commitments. Test for neutralizing Ab. Danish mink mutation.

8 Nov 2020. What a week here in the US! Still, we managed to keep an eye on the latest #COVID19 developments. I hope that you continue to find this weekly catch-up helpful and thank you for the kind feedback. My healthy reminder this week is for us to keep under control “comfort food”. Yes, it can take more planning to cook something healthy, but we deserve it!

[ONE] Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna might still show results before the year ends

Pfizer and Moderna continue to indicate that they could have preliminary results before the end of the year. If those results are positive, the companies would submit a request for Emergency Use (or Expanded Access) immediately after. And if granted, the rollout of the vaccines could start before the year ends or early in 2021, with high-risk populations prioritized, such as health workers. 

The debate on how to allocate any potentially efficacious vaccine globally continues. Data released this week shows that 3.8 billion doses have already been reserved through advance market commitments (AMC), with another 5 billion doses currently under negotiation or reserved as optional expansions of existing deals. AMC are agreements to buy vaccine candidates before they are approved, in order to secure supply. High-income countries currently hold AMC for a total of 2.2 billion doses, upper middle-income countries 544 million doses, and lower middle-income countries 740 million doses. Low-income countries haven’t secured those mechanisms and will be entirely reliant on the COVAX initiative, created to enable fair global access and which is limited to 20% of population coverage. 

If you are concerned about “vaccine hesitancy”, Nature Medicine just published the results of a 13,426 people study in 19 countries: 71.5% of participants reported that they would be very or somewhat likely to take a COVID-19 vaccine. 

[TWO] Countries continue to secure doses of remdesivir and WHO increases focus in COVID antibodies 

Veklury (remdesivir) continues being the only treatment approved to treat COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization. Germany requested this week 155,000 vials of remdesivir under the EU deal to buy up to 3 million vials at $2,407 per treatment (total of 6 vials). A draft document released by Reuters disclosed that WHO plans to focus on the purchase of COVID antibodies when available, and in the distribution of the steroid dexamethasone, of which it has already booked nearly 3 million courses of treatment for poorer countries.

[THREE] FDA grants Emergency Use Authorization to first test that detects neutralizing antibodies

FDA announced this week the authorization of cPass SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit for emergency use. FDA has previously authorized the use of more than other 50 antibody (serology) tests. The relevance of this one is that it’s the first one that detects neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 antibodies from recent or prior infection. Binding antibodies bind to a pathogen, such as a virus, but do not necessarily decrease the infection and destruction of cells. While neutralizing antibodies have demonstrated to “neutralize” the virus in animal studies and are being studied in large scale human trials. Please note that the effects of COVID Ab are still being researched so more insights will be needed.

[FOUR] COVID19 cases grow globally. A new virus mutation identified in Denmark.

Denmark communicated this week that an outbreak in the country's mink population has triggered a mutation of the virus. The country is one of the world’s major exporters of mink furs and while it plans to cull its entire mink population (15 million or more) to prevent the expansion, the new strain has already infected people. This mutation has raised questions about its potential impact in vaccine development (i.e. resistance). While it’s too early to say, some experts have indicated that they don’t see strong reasons for concern. In any case, genetic sequences are being released by the Danish government and we will soon know more about this. 

The number of COVID19 cases continues to grow and governments and toughening policy measures. Germany entered Nov 2 a month-long "lockdown light", shutting restaurants, bars, gyms and entertainment venues, but keeping schools, shops and workplaces open. France announced a second national lockdown until at least the end of November. Starting Oct 30, people would only be allowed to leave home for essential work or medical reasons. Non-essential businesses, such as restaurants and bars, will close, but schools and factories will remain open. England announced a second national lockdown for four weeks, starting Nov 2, to prevent a "medical and moral disaster for the National Health System”. On Nov 4, the US surpassed 103,000 new daily COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day count in the entire pandemic.

If we consider the number of total deaths per one million people, Peru, Belgium, Spain, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina and United States continue to be the countries most impacted by COVID19 globally (in this order). 

[FIVE] Comfort food cravings? Remember that this pandemic is a marathon

“People really had a craving for comfort food during the hardest part of the lockdown, and now of course over time, they see that this would not be the new standard diet” declared Mark Schneider, Nestle CEO, in an interview this week. Please note that researchers have found that a healthy diet (the Mediterranean diet as an example) is associated with a significantly lower risk of developing depressive symptoms. Not to mention a better physique and less risk of chronic diseases. So, let’s not forget that this pandemic is a marathon and, while it’s ok to get off-track here and there, we can’t abandon ourselves to our food cravings.

You can find updates from previous weeks here:

1 November 2020

25 October 2020

The opinions expressed in this article are personal. They might not reflect those of the organizations with which I am affiliated.