[Reporter’s View] Notes on seeking for COVID-19 vaccine

The novel coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is spreading at a concerning rate in South Korea.

 

Although the social distancing level was raised to 2.5 two weeks after the government ordered the social distancing level 2 on Nov.

 

24, the third wave of pandemic seems to keep rising.

 

The authority is even considering on raising the level up to 3, as the daily count of positive cases exceeded 1,000.

 

Regardless, the hope for the end of COVID-19 is growing.

 

A COVID-19 vaccine co-developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has earned the U.S.

 

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorization on Dec.

 

11 local time.

 

The authorization was made a day after the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) issued a recommendation to FDA, making the U.S.

 

the sixth country to approve of COVID-19 vaccine use following the U.K., Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.

 

The U.S.

 

government reaffirmed its strong determination to accelerate the vaccination speed by moving up the recommended vaccination schedule set by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

 

The nationwide COVID-19 vaccine distribution in the U.S.

 

has started, and experts predict the vaccination can begin from Dec.

 

14 local time at the latest.

 

Also the U.S.

 

authority is highly likely to grant emergency use authorization on Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the month.

 

Multiple factors played a part to turn around what seemed like the impossible ‘vaccination before Christmas’ and made it actually possible.

 

Since the confirmation of the pandemic, the U.S.

 

Federal Government has been conducting what is called the Operation Warp Speed.

 

The program is an effort led by several U.S.

 

government bodies to rapidly move the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.

 

A long-time Star Trek fan and a director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at FDA, Peter Marks apparently suggested the particular name in April immediately after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) briefing.

 

The chief operating officer for Operation Warp Speed, Gen.

 

Gustave F.

 

Perna is leading the program.

 

Regardless of the speculation around the political intervention, the Trump administration aggressively funded the pharmaceutical companies seeking for COVID-19 vaccine by signing the pre-order contracts with the vaccine makers.

 

When they were short of injection needles and other equipments, the U.S.

 

Department of Defense reportedly flew the needed equipments within 48 hours.

 

The super expedited COVID-19 vaccine commercialization was possible with the U.S.

 

government’s full support backed by the Department of Defense and HHS with long history of developing and distributing vaccine.

 

Fundamentally, the attempt to even accelerate the vaccine development and distribution was made, because the pharmaceutical giants, Pfizer and Moderna valued at KRW 250 trillion and KRW 68 trillion, respectively, were confident with their colossal capital and technology.

 

The pandemic shortened typically a decade-long vaccine development process at unimaginable speed.

 

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s vaccines are designed around a new technology involving messenger RNA (mRNA), which vastly differs from the conventional vaccine mechanism.

 

A genetic substance of mRNA is injected to a human body to generate antibody and induce immune reaction.

 

The threat of pandemic has opened up a new opportunity for the history of mankind.

 

The regular healthy people have a long journey ahead to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

 

But the people exhausted from the COVID-19 would be full of hope to finally overcome the infectious virus—a thought of the day we return to the daily life without wearing masks.

 

And hopefully, the South Korean government would also assess the vaccines swiftly but accurately, when COVID-19 vaccine makers apply for an approval.