In the first provisional analysis of the effectiveness of a vaccine being developed by Pfizer and Biontech evidence has emerged indicating a +90% success rate in preventing non-SARS-CoV-2 infected participants from catching the virus.
The study involved 43,538 participants, and although 42% suffered ‘diverse experiences,’ there were no actual safety concerns with regards to the vaccine.
Once the required safety milestone is reached, which is expected to occur in the third week of November, the vaccine will be submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorisation.
As for the clinical trials these are continuing and will the the final analysis on the 164 confirmed cases, “in order to collect additional data and characterise the performance of the candidate vaccine in relation to other parameters of the study.”
The President and CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, said “Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our covid-19 vaccine Phase 3 trial provides initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent covid-19.”
“We are reaching a critical milestone in our vaccine development programme at a time when the world needs it most, with infection rates reaching new records, hospitals almost exceeding capacity and economies desperately trying to survive. With today’s news we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed vaccine to help end this global health crisis. We look forward to sharing additional safety and efficacy data generated by thousands of participants in the coming weeks.”
Based on current projections, Pfizer expects to produce up to 50 million doses of vaccine globally in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
With approximately 8 billion people in the world the allocation of vaccines on a global basis will be of interest to everyone, and will hopefully not descend into a government snatch and grab!
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
