In time of human history, there has been a number of disease outbreaks caused by viral infection which comes with severe effects in most cases thousands of deaths.

Some of these viral diseases include Ebola and influenza among others though the severity attack is country by country or continent by continent.

However the most dangerous and severe viral disease outbreak has been Covid-19 which has affected the entire universe leading to disastrous effects such as numerous death of humanity across the globe and it is affecting economies of countries across the continent.

This is because the entire world had to go under total lockdown with almost all the activities coming to standstill.

Apart from providing random treatment for corona patients, world leaders think the best way to curb the disease is for scientists to develop effective and safe vaccine.

 As such scientists in various countries in the developed world are engaged in developing more than 150 coronavirus vaccines and hopes are high to bring one to the market in record time to ease the global crisis.

According to the World Health Organisation there are 48 vaccines under clinical evaluation going on in various countries with prospects of release next year.

However most developed countries have already put in place funds to purchase the vaccines for their citizens which is not the case with countries in Africa Uganda inclusive.

The scramble for the Covid-19 vaccine

Natural hosts of the virus and types of human Corona virus

Health experts note that Corona virus is of different types and its natural host include, Humans, Pigs, Dogs, Cats, Camels, Bats, Snakes, Bird and animals such as pangolin among others

Prof Omu Anzala, lead researcher at the Kenya Aids Vaccine Initiative at the Institute of Clinical Research (KAVI-ICR) University of Nairobi giving press briefing in a zoom meeting organized by Africa Science Media Centre (AfriSMC) about the status of Covid-19 vaccine development notes that there has so far been seven types of Human corona occurrences.

They include HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43 which is Endemic world-wide, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-HKUI, MERS-CoV which occurred between 2012 and 2013 were 2,500 cases were reported with 800 deaths in the Middle East.  SARS-CoV experienced between 2002 and 2003 with 8,098 cases and 774 deaths reported in mainland China & Hong Kong and now SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19 reported in late 2019 and which is ongoing globally.

COVID-19 disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 presents symptoms of fever, cough, tiredness, shortness of breath and the incubation period is from 2 – 14 days

According to Prof Omu the reason why COVID-19 is of concern is that the signs & symptoms are not distinct yet it can spread from a person infected with and those without symptoms, besides there is no specific antiviral drugs or vaccines.

He contends that already there are science companies that are executing phase III of the vaccine but it is not clear if what will be produced will be able to serve the world population.

Already developed countries such as U.S. government’s https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/06/16/fact-sheet-explaining-operation-warp-speed.html">Operation Warp Speed initiative has pledged $10 billion and aims to develop and deliver 300 million doses of a safe, effective coronavirus vaccine by January 2021.

Africa is not anywhere in the plan of how heads of state can allocate funds to purchase vaccines for its citizens. As usual they are relying on donations from the developed world which is a disadvantage.

The World Health Organization is also coordinating global efforts to develop a vaccine, with an eye toward https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/26-06-2020-act-accelerator-update">delivering two billion doses by the end of 2021.

He explained that people are concerned about the expedited approach scientists are using to develop Covid -19 vaccine which to him should not raise doubts because scientists have done this before especially in finding vaccine for Ebola.

“It can typically take 10 – 15 years to develop a vaccine to be availed in it in the market but scientists can expedite vaccine development depending on the need and emergency. The fasted ever vaccine developed was for mumps in the 1960’s. Vaccines go through a three stage clinical trial process before it is sent to regulatory agencies for approval which can be a lengthy process but for Covid-19 this is not the case,”

He contends that even after a vaccine is approved, it faces potential roadblocks when it comes to scaling up production and distribution, which includes deciding which population should get it first and at what cost.

He urged the international community and African countries to take tangible actions to ensure the continent has equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

 “Africa should start planning logistics and distribution of vaccines instead of being skeptical and hesitant. The emerging global issue right now is acceptance of the vaccines, availability and its access.” he noted.

In this case venerable communities, persons with previous history ailments such as diabetes, high blood pressure, Asthma and the elderly who easily succumb to the virus will be considered first.

Dr Phiona Atuhebwe working as New Vaccines Introduction Medical Officer, at the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in Congo Brazaville notes that Africa has gone for the vaccine developed by Covax

This is because the Covax vaccine is targeting to produce 2 billion vaccine vials to cover 20% of the population in each country in the world.

“African heads of States should have allocated funds and paid for this vaccine because some countries in the developed world have done so. This is clearly to show that there is already scramble for the vaccine before it is released in the market,” she notes.

Prof Umu is urging East African nations to come together and negotiate for vaccines as a consortium so that they can get price concessions due to large quantities ordered.

It is dangerous for African countries not to allocate enough funds to purchase the vaccines, pinning their hopes on donors. Developed countries are doing the opposite. They have already started allocating resources to buy and distribute the vaccines. The United Kingdom, for example, has preordered 195 million dozes of the AstraZeneca vaccine for its citizens.

The vaccine development initiative and types

Experts state that the Covid-19 vaccine candidates aim to instruct the immune system to mount a defense which is sometimes stronger than what would be provided through natural means.

To do so, some vaccines use the whole coronavirus but in a weakened state. Others use only part of the virus whether a protein or a fragment.

Some transfer the coronavirus proteins into a different virus that is unlikely to cause disease or even incapable of it. Finally some vaccines rely on deploying pieces of the coronavirus’s genetic material so that human cells can temporarily make the coronavirus proteins needed to stimulate the immune systems.

There are few vaccines that have reached phase III the most prominent being ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 developed by University of Oxford in UK in collaboration with the biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

This is known as a viral vector vaccine presented to the immune system. Oxford’s research team has transferred the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein which helps the coronavirus invade cells into a weakened version of an adenovirus, which typically causes the common cold.

When this adenovirus is injected into humans, the hope is that the spike protein will trigger an immune response.

According to the information on the official WHO website, it is stated that on November 23, Oxford and AstraZeneca announced interim results from two of its phase three trials.

One conducted in the United Kingdom showed the vaccine was 90-percent effective in preventing COVID-19 when given as a half dose followed by a full dose one month later. But in a second trial conducted in Brazil, in which volunteers received two full doses one month apart, the effectiveness dropped to 62 percent.

When averaged, the efficacy is 70 percent. Project members say their candidate can be stored in normal refrigeration and they plan to seek an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization, which would set up their candidate for distribution in lower income countries.

Oxford and AstraZeneca are expected to produce up to three billion doses of the vaccine in 2021.

Types of Vaccine

Prof UMU explains that several different types of potential vaccines for COVID-19 are in development.

The different types are inactivated or weakened virus vaccines, which use a form of the virus that has been weakened so it doesn’t cause disease, but still generates an immune response.

Protein-based vaccines, which use harmless fragments of proteins that mimic the COVID-19 virus to safely generate an immune response.

Viral vector vaccines, which uses a virus that has been genetically engineered so that it can’t cause disease but produces coronavirus proteins to safely generate an immune response.

RNA and DNA vaccines, a cutting-edge approach that uses genetically engineered RNA or DNA to generate a protein that itself safely prompts an immune response.

Some of the specific vaccines under development include BNT162b2 developed by Pfizer the largest Pharmaceutical Company based in New York in collaboration with Germany Company BioNTech.

 

Others are CoronaVac developed by Chinese Biophamaceutical Company Sinovac in collaboration with Brazilian research centre Butantan, mRNA-1273 developed by Moderna Therapeutics a Massachusetts-based biotech company in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health in USA and Sputnik V developed by Rusian research Institute Gamaleya National Cemtre of Epidemiology and Microbiology in partnership with the state-run Russian Direct Investment Fund.

 

The Ugandan status

 

In Africa two countries are participating in testing the Oxford University vaccine and that is South Africa and Kenya.

 

However in Uganda much of the effort is put in community response to the virus and research work is ongoing testing drugs that can cure the virus infection

The Deputy Executive Director UNCST Dr Martin Patrick Ongol notes that so far his team has issued permits to 41 research activities related to Covid-19, two being clinical trials where scientists are testing if hydrochloquine can be used as treatment to reduce the virus in human body.

The other is where scientists are extracting Convalescent Plasma from patients who have recovered to establish if it contains antibodies to treat persons with Covid-19 virus.

The Director Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) Dr Pontiano Caleb giving overview of Covid -19 situation in the country notes that his team is participating in research activities with scientists from London College University and others but mainly in determining efficacy of appropriate testing.

He notes that UVRI in collaboration with Ministry of health have secure PCR testing kits which can be used for instant testing and tests that can give results after some time.

Scientists are studying whether they give test results according to the recommended WHO organisation guidelines before embarking in using them. This is because some testing instruments give wrong results.