Pfizer - The African Mirror

Mar

2022

Africa CDC has MOU with Pfizer for supplies of COVID-19 pill

AFRICA'S top public health agency has agreed on a memorandum of understanding with Pfizer to bring supplies of the pharmaceutical firm's Paxlovid antiviral COVID-19 pills to the continent, its director said on Thursday. Data from a mid-to-late stage study in November showed Paxlovid was nearly 90% effective in preventing hospitalisations and deaths compared to placebo, in adults at high risk of severe illness. John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also said it was still talking to Merck about obtaining supplies of its molnupiravir COVID pill and a call was scheduled for this week about that.…

Mar

2022

By The African Mirror

S.Africa risks destroying 100,000 vaccine doses by end-March due to slow uptake

COVID-19

ABOUT 100,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine are at risk of being destroyed by the end of this month due to slow uptake by citizens, South African health authorities said. South Africa has recorded the most coronavirus infections and deaths on the African continent, however, inoculations have slowed and the country has ample vaccine stocks of about 25 million doses. "There is a risk that just over 100,000 or so doses which will expire by end of March ... may have to be discarded. It will be a sad day if significant volumes of doses can end up being discarded. We…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

Pfizer to allow generic versions of its COVID-19 pill in 95 countries

COVID-19

MICHAEL ERMAN and EMMA FARGE PFIZER Inc said on Tuesday it will allow generic manufacturers to supply its experimental antiviral COVID-19 pill to 95 low- and middle-income countries through a licensing agreement with the international public health group Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). The voluntary licensing agreement between Pfizer and the MPP will allow the United Nations-backed group to grant sub-licenses to qualified generic drug manufacturers to make their own versions of PF-07321332. Pfizer will sell the pills it manufactures under the brand name Paxlovid. Pfizer, which also makes one of the mostly widely used COVID-19 vaccines, has said the pill…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria prioritising four COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19

NIGERIA is prioritising the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, the official heading Nigeria's COVID-19 vaccination campaign has said, when asked whether the Sinopharm shot would be used in the country. Dr Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria's primary healthcare agency, said the Sinopharm vaccine had been approved by the national medicines regulator "for emergency use", but rolling it out was not a priority. "We don't want a situation where we may have 10, 20 vaccines that have been globally recognised or listed for emergency use, and then you want to take all 20 vaccines to Nigeria, it doesn't…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Mixed AstraZeneca-Pfizer shot boosts COVID antibody level – study

COVID-19

SANGMI CHA A mixed vaccination of first AstraZeneca and then a Pfizer COVID-19 shot boosted neutralizing antibody levels by six times compared with two AstraZeneca doses, a study from South Korea showed. The study involved 499 medical workers - 100 receiving mixed doses, 200 taking two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot and the remainder getting two AstraZeneca shots. All showed neutralizing antibodies, which prevent the virus from entering cells and replicating, and the result of the mixed schedule of vaccines showed similar amounts of neutralizing antibodies found from the group that received two Pfizer shots. A British study last month…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa demands local production of vaccines

COVID-19

DUNCAN MIRIRI and GEORGE OBULUTSA GLOBAL pharmaceutical firms should license the production of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa rather than just do piecemeal contract deals, an African Union special envoy has said. AU coronavirus envoy Strive Masiyiwa was speaking a day after Pfizer and BioNTech announced a "fill and finish" deal with South Africa's Biovac Institute under which it will carry out the final stages of vaccine manufacturing where the product is processed and put into vials. Pfizer and BioNTech will handle drug substance production at their facilities in Europe. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has called the arrangement "restrictive" and said…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Landmark deal to make vaccine in SA

COVID-19

PFIZER and BioNTech have struck a deal for South Africa's Biovac Institute to help manufacture around 100 million doses a year of their COVID-19 vaccine for the African Union, the firms said on Wednesday. The deal is to "fill and finish" the vaccine, the final stages of manufacturing where the product is processed and put into vials. It does not cover the complicated processes of mRNA drug substance production, which Pfizer and BioNTech will do at their own facilities in Europe. The agreement comes as Pfizer and BioNTech try to sway World Trade Organization (WTO) members from supporting a waiver…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

WHO to review COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19

TECHNICAL experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) will review on April 26 Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine for possible emergency use listing, to be followed by the Sinovac jab on May 3, the agency said on Thursday. "We would expect a decision a couple of days later," the WHO said in response to a Reuters query. So far COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have received a WHO listing - an endorsement of their safety and efficacy that helps to guide countries' regulatory agencies.

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Vaccine down payments terms among onerous’

COVID-19

WENDELL ROELF and ALEXANDER WINNING SOUTH Africa agreed to onerous conditions like non-refundable down payments to secure COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Pfizer, its health minister said on Wednesday, describing terms vaccine manufacturers had demanded as "difficult and sometimes unreasonable". The country worst-hit by the pandemic on the African continent in terms of coronavirus infections and deaths is counting on the single-dose J&J and double-shot Pfizer vaccines to ramp up immunisations after a slow start. It has signed deals with the two firms for a combined 61 million doses, enough to vaccinate 46 million people out of…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccines for “immediate use” in S.A.

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa's health minister said yesterday that government advisers had grouped COVID-19 vaccines into three groups and those considered for "immediate use" were the Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Pfizer and Moderna shots. The country started rolling out the J&J vaccine in a research study targeting healthcare workers last week and hopes to receive Pfizer doses in the coming months. It has paused AstraZeneca vaccinations because of a small trial showing the British company's shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness caused by the dominant local coronavirus variant. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the government had placed "huge orders…