When are we getting the vaccine?

When will we have a Wuhan virus vaccine? A lot has been said this week following the Pfizer announcement. But the speculation discounted the bigger picture. We cannot forget that there are other candidates in the race to get the vaccine too. And most of them already have invoices ready. In other words, governments have pre-ordered vaccines. Those supplies will be delivered first. Before the rest of the world gets a shot. And that changes a lot.

There are 10 vaccine candidates in phase 3 of the trials. Which means that they are being tried on over 100 patients. All of whom are being closely monitored.

Following are the vaccine candidates in the race.

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• Pfizer and BioNTech's BNT-162
• Oxford, Astrazeneca and Serum Institute of India's AZD-1222
• Russia's Sputnik V
• Bharat Biotech and National Institute of Virology's Covaxin
• Johnson and Johnson's vaccine candidate
• Moderna's MRNA-1273
• Novavax's NVX CoV 2373
• 3 vaccine candidates being made in China

Out of these vaccines, Pfizer's candidate has shown over 90 per cent effectiveness. Sputnik V has shown 92 per cent efficacy. India is among the many countries where Sputnik V is undergoing clinical trials.

Where will these vaccines reach first? The US and Europe will be the first to get Pfizer Inc and BioNTech's shot. The companies have signed an advanced purchase agreement for 100 million doses with the US. With the EU, the agreement is for over 200 million doses. They also have a deal with Japan for 120 million doses. And with UK for 30 million doses.