Top pharma firms are already ramping up productions of their Covid-19 vaccine candidates as hopes for a jab soar.
A number of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical firms are already stock piling doses of their experimental vaccines should they get approval in the near future.
Just last week it emerged that the so-called Oxford vaccine appeared to work on both older and younger adults.
British drug maker AstraZeneca revealed that people of all ages who took part in testing had an “immune response.”
The experimental vaccine also showed lower adverse responses among elderly people.
And on Sunday, the company revealed that it wants to ensure "not a single day is wasted" as it hopes to have as much supplies of the vaccine available for the public should it get approval.
A company spokesperson said: “AstraZeneca has started commercial manufacturing. This is one of the ways we ensure that not a single day is wasted if this vaccine is proven to work.”
Several companies are currently moving towards stage three of clinical trials, sparking hope that a vaccine could be made available as early as mid 2021.
Upon approval, it is likely that they will be rolled out among elderly and vulnerable people first.
AstraZeneca, along with other big players Sanofi GSK and Janssen, have all already signed a deal with the European Commission to supply hundreds of millions of doses of a vaccine to member states, including Ireland.
Sanofi-GSK told the Business Post that it is currently ramping up production of ingredients for its vaccine in anticipation of producing around one billion doses next year if it's proven safe.
Ian Gray, medical director with Sanodi said: “The intention is that if Phase 3 moves in a good direction, and all the right points are met and it is deemed by the authorities to show effectiveness it should show, we should be seeing a license for that vaccine in mid 2021.
The positive news comes after Tanaiste Leo Varadkar last week said that he was “increasingly optimistic” that we will see a vaccine ready in the next few months.
While a number of health experts have warned that a Covid vaccine won’t be the "silver bullet" that puts an end to the deadly virus, there is hope that the arrival of a jab will bring life relatively back to normal once again.
Earlier this week, there was other positive news when US biopharmaceutical company Regeneron reported its monoclonal antibody cocktail treatment helped people with mild and moderate Covid-19.
