Coronavirus vaccine update: Serum Institute promises a vaccine by December and more updates you need to know today

The hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine has amplified. According to reports, companies around the world are getting ready to roll out their vaccine candidates at the earliest. Safety data from the top contenders is expected anytime soon. Newer reports, claiming efficacy of repurposed vaccines is also being studied.

Here's a refresher on where we stand in the race against coronavirus:

Serum Institute of India, which will be producing and marketing Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine candidate as Covishield in India is preparing to have the earliest doses ready by December. This will be made possible if the government issues an emergency authorisation to the company. The firm has also promised to have another million doses ready by the second or third quarter of 2021. The announcement has been made by CEO Adar Poonawalla himself.

SII, which is also working on starting trials of another candidate, Novavax said that they are waiting for the tests to wrap up, before pushing for administration. In an interview, Poonawalla was quoted as saying:

“If we don’t go for an emergency licence, our trials should be over by December and then we can maybe launch in India in January subject to the UK trial also being completed which it’s on the verge of being completed,”

While SII preps to test and produce doses of the vaccine, the latest safety reports from early clinical trials found that the vaccine is able to deliver safe and tolerable immunity amongst the vulnerable elderly groups. The results were found after a small group in the phase II study was inoculated with the adenovirus vaccine jab and saw a spike in the production of antibodies.

While Oxford trials have been marred by controversies and side-effects in the past months, the latest safety reports makes it one of the workable and effective vaccines we might have right now. The company has already alerted hospitals across the UK to be prepared to receive early doses of vaccine in the middle of Novemeber. More updates about the vaccine, which is in critical phase III study is expected to come out soon

American giant Pfizer is the second vaccine maker after Oxford University to announce headway into their trials. The company, which is also conducting phase III trials of its experimental COVID vaccine in partnership with the German company, BioNTech has said that it is willing to have upwards of 40 million doses of the vaccine ready by December end, provided clinical trials are expedited and regulatory licenses are provided soon.

The company has also promised an additional 100 million doses for the public by March 2021. While the company was expected to release safety data in October, officials backed away, citing that they needed more time for this.

Pfizer representatives have also said that they are positive the vaccine would be able to deliver the right results. An agency report quotes Chief Executive Albert Bourla:

"I'm not bullish a vaccine will work. I'm cautiously optimistic that the vaccine will work."

Pfizer has also seen a rise in demand for some of the other respiratory vaccines it produces of late.

There has been a lot of promising research backing the efficacy of a BCG vaccine against novel coronavirus. Now, Indian Council of Medical Research has also found conclusive proof that the vaccine is able to protect high-risk people over the age of 55 against COVID-19 to an extent. If the findings are true, experts say that we might have a workable approach ready and protect masses against dangers of falling sick to coronavirus.

The study observed that the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which is administered to prevent tuberculosis was able to induce adaptive immunity, memory cell response as well as spike up antibody production in the body in elderly patients.

Similar studies are being carried out in the United Kingdom as well as Australia.

World Health Organisation (WHO) also backs the working of BCG vaccine, adding that the vaccine can "bridge the gap before a disease-specific vaccine is developed."