WHO "Vaccines Insufficient to Halt Current Spread"... Cautious Despite Pfizer Vaccine Launch

Emergency Response Team Leader: "Still Trusting 'Masks'"
WP: "Pfizer to Produce 5,000 Doses by Year-End"
BioNTech: "Hundreds of Millions Expected by First Half of Next Year"
Delivery and Vaccination Preparation Challenges... Maintaining Minus 70 Degrees Is Key

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that even if a vaccine for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is developed, the initial supply will be extremely limited, cautioning against premature expectations of eradicating the virus. The WHO emphasized a cautious stance that the spread of COVID-19 will not immediately subside even after the vaccine is supplied. As forecasts emerged that the COVID-19 spread, which is raging mainly in the US and Europe despite the vaccine launch, will not subside immediately, the New York stock market, including the Dow Jones, which started with an initial upward trend, closed lower.

According to the Associated Press (AP) and others on the 18th (local time), Mike Ryan, head of the WHO Emergency Response Team, said during a video briefing held at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, "The COVID-19 spread sweeping through Europe and North America cannot be stopped by the vaccine expected to be released soon. This is because the supply will be grossly insufficient." He added, "Currently, the only reliable measures are social distancing and wearing masks."

This reaction came after Pfizer announced that its COVID-19 vaccine, jointly developed with Germany's BioNTech, showed 95% immunity effectiveness in the final analysis. The possibility of Pfizer's vaccine launch has become quite high as Moderna, a US pharmaceutical company developing a COVID-19 vaccine, had already announced that its vaccine showed 94.5% immunity effectiveness in the interim results of its Phase 3 clinical trial. The Washington Post (WP) reported that Pfizer plans to produce 50 million doses worldwide, with about half of them distributed in the US. Alex Azar, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, also stated in an interview with CNBC the day before, "Pfizer and Moderna are expected to produce vaccines for 20 million people each by the end of the year."

However, approval is expected to be expedited to curb the spread quickly. The New York Times (NYT) reported that Pfizer and BioNTech plan to apply for emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the 20th, and the FDA is expected to approve it around mid-next month.

Full-scale supply is expected to be possible only in the first half of next year. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Pfizer's vaccine must be shipped at ultra-low temperatures below minus 70 degrees Celsius, but preparations for such shipping are not properly in place in each US state. The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the US regional health authority, estimated last month that the expected vaccination preparation cost would be at least $8.4 billion (about 9.329 trillion KRW), but so far only $200 million has been allocated to the jurisdictions. Even this has been delayed due to the transfer of power issues after the US presidential election.

BioNTech also stated that large-scale vaccine distribution must wait until the first half of next year. CEO Sahin said, "We will be able to produce hundreds of millions of vaccine doses by the first half of next year," adding, "We will further systematize the supply chain going forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.