Covid-19 vaccine 90% effective on first scan, says Pfizer

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer said on Monday that preliminary scans showed its Covid-19 vaccine candidate to be over 90% effective in preventing infections.

News from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE was greeted as a major step in the fight against a virus that has ravaged the global economy, disrupted the daily lives of billions and killed 1.26 million people. – nearly 240,000 in the United States alone.

The study shows that people who received two doses as part of the trial saw 90% fewer symptomatic cases of Covid-19 than participants who received a placebo. This is a much higher success rate than many experts had expected.

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“Today is a great day for science and humanity,” said Albert Bourla, Chairman and CEO of Pfizer, in a statement. “We are reaching this crucial milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most, with infection rates setting new records, hospitals close to overcapacity and economies struggling to reopen.”

This breakthrough does not mean that a vaccine will be immediately available.

While there haven’t been serious safety concerns yet, Pfizer has said it will not apply to the United States Food and Drug Administration for emergency use clearance until it is two months old. security data, which probably won’t come until the third week of November.

It is also not known how long an immunity would last, nor to what extent such a vaccine would be available and by what time frame. Pfizer said that, based on current projections, it plans to produce up to 50 million doses of vaccine globally in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

Regardless of the unknowns, international markets have welcomed the news, with stock futures on Wall Street surging after the company’s announcement.

This is a developing story, check back for updates.