Health Notes

Pfizer and Biontech say that their COVID-19 vaccine candidate is more than 90 percent effective

by Charlie Smith on November 9th, 2020 at 6:25 AM
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      There's some good news in efforts to control the worst pandemic in a century.

      The world's second-largest pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, and its partner, Biontech, announced that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, was more than 90 percent effective in preventing the disease in its "first interim efficacy analysis".

      There were 43,538 participants in the study. Of those, there were 94 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among those who took two doses of the vaccine.

      More than 42 percent of global participants and 30 percent of U.S. participants were from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds.

      In addition, the companies said that "no serious safety concerns have been observed".

      “Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent COVID-19,” Pfizer chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said in a news release. “We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen.

      "With today’s news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis. We look forward to sharing additional efficacy and safety data generated from thousands of participants in the coming weeks.”

      He stated that the company plans to release additional efficacy and safety data in the coming weeks.

      The company says that based on current projections, it could produce 50 million vaccine doses this year and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

      It still requires regulatory approval in countries around the world.

      Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding has pointed out that there's still a lot more work that needs to be done.

      Plus, he's highlighted some of the challenges associated with the need for deep-freezing the vaccine developed by Pfizer and Biontech.

      The announcement came after Canada recorded more than 4,000 positive test results for COVID-19 on both Saturday and Sunday (November 7 and 8). There have been 10,522 deaths in Canada associated with COVID-19.

      There have been more than 50 million coronavirus cases around the world, causing more than 1.2 million deaths.

      The United States has the most cases, 10.3 million, and the most deaths, 243,797.

      India, Brazil, Russia, France, and Spain have also been especially hard hit.

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