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In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

February 28, 2022 by Anna Kovacevich

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Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) plan to submit their COVID-19 vaccine for authorization following strong phase 3 trial results, the companies announced Wednesday. The two-dose adjuvanted protein-based vaccine showed 100 percent efficacy against severe disease and hospitalization and 57.9 percent overall efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 disease, which, while lower than rates originally reported for other vaccines, reflects efficacy expectations in an environment now dominated by variants of concern, the companies said. The vaccine can also be used as a booster, including in people who originally received an mRNA vaccine, and is stable at refrigerator temperatures, making it more suitable to reach low-resource settings than vaccines with stricter cold-chain requirements. Sanofi and GSK are submitting the vaccine for authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.  

An international trial will investigate COVID-19 booster shots administered at reduced dosages in an effort to increase global access to vaccines. The trial, supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, will test boosters of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines among up to 3,300 healthy adults across Australia, Indonesia, and Mongolia. Results are expected to provide data on the merits of vaccinating with fractional booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines and offer information on whether fractional doses produce fewer side effects, which could guide future vaccination strategies. The three booster vaccines being tested have received emergency use listing from the World Health Organization (WHO) and are being supplied to the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative.

WHO is establishing a new global biomanufacturing training hub in South Korea to support production of biologicals, including vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, in low- and middle-income countries. The hub, to be located in a large facility outside Seoul that is already providing biomanufacturing training for companies based in the country, will provide technical and hands-on guidance to trainees from around the world and complement specific trainings developed by the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub recently established in South Africa. The WHO Academy will work with the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare to develop a comprehensive curriculum on general biomanufacturing. South Korea plans to start training 370 professionals from Asia, Africa, and South America in July.

About the author

Anna KovacevichGHTC

Anna Kovacevich is a senior program assistant at GHTC who supports GHTC's communications and member engagement activities.