An early data set released by American-German vaccine maker duo Pfizer-BioNTech has shown that the vaccine co-developed by the team is effective against coronavirus 90 percent of instances.
The duo revealed that no serious safety concerns gave been so far in the on-going trials and they are likely to approach the US authorities for emergency use approvals of the vaccine which might make the vaccine available to priority individuals such as front-line healthcare workers, law enforcement officials and most likely teachers as early as December.
Commenting on the breakthrough moment for the organization and everyone involved in the fight against the deadly virus, Mr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s Chairman and CEO remarked the occasion as “a great day for science and humanity.”
“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,” the Pfizer Chief observed.
Experts across the globe, while relishing the moment have remained optimistically cautious about the data shared by the duo as the results represent a small portion of comprehensive data from the on-going late-stage trial which still needs to be published in a journal and peer-reviewed.
Once approved, Pfizer-BioNTech could roll-out as much as 50 million doses by the year-end which can protect as much as 25 million people on its ‘2-dose’ regime with another 1.3 billion doses expected in 2021.
Several questions such as how well the vaccine would work on vulnerable individuals and how long the induced immunity would last still remain unanswered.
BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin had earlier suggested in a media interaction that Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine candidate can produce a strong immunity which could last for a year with little to no clarity on the claim.
Expressing his delight on the disclosure, Peter Horby from the University of Oxford, a frequent advisor/consultant to the World Health Organisation stated that “This news made me smile from ear to ear. It is a relief to see such positive results on this vaccine and bodes well for COVID-19 vaccines in general.”
