Plus Pfizer/BioNTech report real-world data from Israel on its vaccine, while Roche’s Actemra misses Phase III endpoint in another combo study with Veklury.

Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine has shown 80.6% efficacy in interim data from Phase III clinical trials, slightly better than the 79.3% reported by Sinopharm and significantly higher than Sinovac’s 50.6% for their vaccines based on similar technology. Supply deals are already on the way, with Brazil having signed up for 200 million doses.

Experts including renowned virologist Peter Piot, FDA’s Peter Marks and CEPI’s Richard Hatchett discussed multiple dimensions pertaining to coronavirus variants and existing vaccines at a recent conference, noting enhanced post-deployment surveillance is underway in the US. While there’s no need to panic for every variant that emerges, equitable access to vaccines is critical to ensure that gains made over last year are not undone, they said.