The Irish Independent has learned that the Kovid-19 vaccine will be available in Ireland by the end of this year.
All Reid, managing director of Pfizer Ireland, believes there are strong indications that his company’s experimental job will be approved for immediate approval by the end of next month. It has already produced 100 million doses and is ready to go if it gets the green light from regulatory agencies in the US and Europe.
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Progress Report: Paul Reed, Managing Director, Pfizer Ireland. Picture: Andres Poweda
Progress Report: Paul Reed, Managing Director, Pfizer Ireland. Picture: Andres Poweda
He told the Irish Independent that Pfizer and its German partner Biotech were currently in talks with the European Commission to reach an advance purchase agreement. He said member states, including Ireland, would receive a share of the first deliveries.
“We can reach 100 million doses by the end of 2020. It is safe to have a pre-purchase agreement with the European Commission. Part of that will include a volume that we hope will be available across Europe.”
The vaccine consists of two doses, tested on 44,000 people of all ages.
“Through the clinical trial program, we are accelerating the breakdown. We are seeing recruitment speed to trials we have never seen before. Already 40,000 people have been recruited.
There are many obstacles that need to be overcome before the public is ready to rule.
The first step is to submit it to the US FDA and the European Medicines Agency for immediate use approval early next month.
“The FDA will review the data with its own scientists. It will be reviewed by an external panel of independent experts at a public meeting,” he said. As part of the fast-track approach, the company has been submitting data rolling to the European Licensing Authority on a rolling basis since the tests began.
Usually, this information is provided at the end of clinical trials.
“Once it is available, it will be submitted for review,” he said, adding that security was crucial.
“We need to demonstrate the quality and consistency of vaccines.”
Raid said the company has been investing since the early days of Pandemic. To ensure that manufacturing processes are ready to meet the capacity requirements required to produce quantities of vaccines.
He revealed that the results are very promising.
“We’re trying to be as open as possible. We’ll share any critical read-data data, positive or negative, within a few days of being seen by independent scientists.
“The positivity of the vaccine has so far been predicted in good science.”
One of the tests of any Kovid vaccine is its effectiveness and how it works in people of different ages. Fisher candidate trials of participants aged 12 and over.
Employees at the Pfizer Grange Castle site in west Dublin are engaged in quality testing to support Jab construction in Belgium.
The EU Commission has already entered into pre-purchase agreements with three other companies with funding from member countries – which are expected to produce successful vaccines – including experimental jobs from Oxford-AstraZeneca, Sanofi, and Johnson & Johnson.
Fisher seems to be in pole position now, crossing the finish line.
If early batches of successful vaccines are brought here, the government will decide who should be vaccinated first based on the advice of the Immunization Advisory Group.
Risk groups such as frontline health care workers and nursing home staff will be at the top of the queue.
Raid said it plans to produce 1.3 billion doses next year. One challenge is to produce the vaccines needed for such a global need.
The initial roll-still of vaccines still requires compliance with physical distance and other Covid rules.
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Guardoy at a checkpoint on the M7 motorway on the border of Dublin and Kildare on the first day of the Level 5 restrictions in Dublin.
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Guardoy at a checkpoint on the M7 motorway on the border of Dublin and Kildare on the first day of the Level 5 restrictions in Dublin.
But when risk groups are given some protection depending on its effectiveness, the need for lockdowns will decrease.
