Coronavirus vaccine update August 5 | WHO asks Russia to follow regulations; Zydus Cadila's candidate found safe in early-stage trials

5 | India to get 100 million AstraZeneca's vaccine shots by December 2020, say Reports: With Covishield, the coronavirus vaccine candidate jointly developed by the University of Oxford and British firm AstraZeneca entering phase 3 trials, Serum Institute of India (SII) has started ramping up the production of the vaccine. The world's largest vaccine maker plans to have 100 million doses ready by December 2020 for an inoculation drive that could begin across India that same month, Bloomberg reported on November 13.

Even as Russia said it would be starting with the vaccination process from October, the World Health Organisation (WHO) cautioned the country against rushing through the process.

"There are established practices and there are guidelines out… Any vaccine (or medicine) for this purpose should be, or course, going through all the various trials and tests before being licenced for roll-out," Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for WHO told news agency AFP.

"Sometimes individual researchers claim they have found something, which is, of course, as such, great news. But between finding or having a clue of maybe having a vaccine that works, and having gone through all the stages, is a big difference," the spokesperson said.

Zydus Cadila's COVID-19 vaccine candidate found safe in early-stage human trials
Zydus Cadila said its COVID-19 vaccine candidate was found to be safe and well-tolerated in an early-stage human trial. It will now start a mid-stage trial of the vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D, in over 1,000 healthy adult volunteers from August 6 to test its effectiveness, it said in a regulatory filing.

Zydus plans to complete late-stage trials for ZyCoV-D by February or March and could produce up to 100 million doses a year initially, the company's chairman said.

US. to pay $1 billion for 100 million doses of J&J's COVID-19 vaccine candidate
The United States government said it will pay Johnson & Johnson over $1 billion for 100 million doses of its potential coronavirus vaccine. The latest contract is priced at roughly $10 per vaccine dose produced by J&J, or $20 per dose, including a second $1 billion from the US government promised to J&J in March.

Switzerland nears deal to get Moderna COVID vaccine
Switzerland said it is close to signing a deal to secure access for a coronavirus vaccine being developed by US-based Moderna. It will soon sign a reservation and supply deal, Pascal Strupler, the Director of the Federal Office of Public Health, told the Swiss TV programme Club. "We are only a few hours away from completing a purchase contract. With this contract we will get it very quickly," Strupler said.

Pfizer announces deal with Canada for experimental COVID-19 vaccinePharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech SE said they have signed a deal to supply Canada with an experimental coronavirus vaccine. Deliveries of the BNT162 mRNA-based vaccine candidate are planned over the course of 2021, subject to clinical success and Health Canada approval, the two companies said in a statement.