Pfizer announces a 95% effective COVID-19 vaccine. The study covering this percentage of effectiveness has not yet been published in any scientific journal and is therefore not reviewed by other researchers.
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine seems closer than ever. A few weeks ago, Pfizer announced to the world that its vaccine was more than 90% effective after a preliminary analysis of its data. Now, they have managed to reach the minimum number of people infected in the trial so that their two-dose vaccine can be approved. And in their new announcement, not yet published or peer-reviewed, they claim that the effectiveness is up to 95% and that they could defend against a serious COVID-19.
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Pfizer announces a 95% effective COVID-19 vaccine
The 43,000-person Phase Three clinical trial is divided into two groups. One vaccinated against COVID-19 and the other with a placebo. They have already surpassed 164 cases of the disease in their two groups. In fact, the exact number so far is 170 SARS-CoV-2 infections in their phase three clinical trial.
Most cases (162) occurred in the placebo group, with only eight people vaccinated by Pfizer getting sick. And of the eight, only one was a severe case of COVID-19 compared to nine in the placebo group. For this reason, Pfizer announces that its vaccine would be effective in protecting against a severe COVID-19. However, there is no need to get excited since the number of people infected in both groups is small. This implies that with large-scale administration it could still vary and be less than 95% announced this Wednesday.
Protection against COVID-19
“The data indicates that our vaccine is able to induce a high rate of protection against COVID-19 only 29 days after the first dose. In addition, the vaccine was observed to be well-tolerated in all age groups with mostly mild to moderate side effects, which may be due in part to the relatively low dose.” said Ugur Sahin, executive director of BioNTech, in a statement.
The new vaccine may obtain an emergency use license from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We won’t know if you will have it yet, though, since Pfizer will first have to send in an application for approval. And this could happen “in a few days”. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told a conference that the company had accumulated enough safety data to submit the vaccine for review.
Since Pfizer’s announcement of its effectiveness on November 9, companies with more advanced vaccines have echoed it and done the same. Sputnik V of Russia and Moderna have decided to make their own announcements. However, just like Pfizer, without showing the studies that support these results. For this reason, we still have to be careful about announcing the effectiveness percentages of the vaccines.
Vaccine safety is also important. We know that they are not going to let just any vaccine go to market. In fact, Pfizer points out that there are no “serious” problems with their vaccine in two doses. And that most of the adverse effects after the vaccination disappear in a few days, as it happens with other vaccines that have had more time to develop. So it’s not uncommon for them to explain.
Pfizer announces a 95% effective COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer is not the only company that currently has a vaccine in the phase prior to its approval. Although at the moment it is the one that seems to be closer to obtaining it. However, will the FDA approve the vaccine or will it need further testing of the vaccine’s effectiveness?
