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Durham, North Carolina – An infectious disease specialist at Duke University Hospital is one of 44,000 people enrolled in Pfizer’s clinical trials for a potential coronavirus vaccine.
“It just seemed like the right thing to do, frankly,” Cameron Wolfe said. “We have to find a way forward here that doesn’t just keep a lot of people from getting sick, and if that was a small role that could help in that, I was happy to move on. .
Pfizer announced Monday that the vaccine candidate has a 90% effectiveness rate, meaning that only 10 of 100 people vaccinated who test positive for the virus would get sick.
Although preliminary results are based on the results of only 94 patients, Wolfe called the rate of 90% “incredibly positive.”
“You think of it in terms of flu shots, and it’s a good year if we get 50 percent effectiveness for a flu shot,” he said. “It’s really pretty deep.”
About half of the people in the trial were vaccinated against the virus and the other half received a placebo. Wolfe still doesn’t know which group he belonged to, but he didn’t develop any symptoms of COVID-19.
“The number of people who received the placebo and ended up getting COVID was well, much higher than those who took the vaccine,” he said.
Pfizer warned that the initial projection of efficacy may change at the end of the study and that the safety of the vaccines has yet to be reviewed. Wolfe said he was encouraged the trial had not been put on hold for safety reasons, like trials for some other vaccine candidates, but said it remains to be seen how long immunity will provide. by the vaccine would last.
“Are they getting a COVID that is potentially transmissible, but they just have no symptoms, or is it a complete blockage of their future infectivity for anyone around them?” He said. said. “Because if that [latter one] is true, this kind of becomes an excellent instrument to block the whole pandemic. “
Dr Linda Butler, Chief Medical Officer at A C Rex Hospital in Raleigh said the news from Pfizer is promising, but is eager to get details on individual cases in the study, including the effectiveness of this vaccine for people who have developed severe symptoms. serious.
Pfizer officials said they plan to apply for emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as early as late November.
“We don’t know exactly when it will be available. We don’t know how much we’re going to win, ”Butler said.
Meanwhile, she said, coronavirus infections are likely to continue to rise in North Carolina and elsewhere in the weeks to come, as colder weather brings people closer to the interior and people move closer. gather for the holidays.
At UNC Rex, health workers who come in direct contact with patients with COVID-19 will be the first to be vaccinated, she said. A more extensive distribution could take several months.
The hospital has held exercises in recent years to see how many people could be vaccinated in a day, Butler said. This number equates to thousands, so the available doses will go quickly.
“It must be in a frozen state, some sort of minus-80 [degrees], within four to six hours of administration, “Wolfe said.” So it won’t be something where we just drive up to our CVS and get your flu shot.
Wolfe said he was confident the FDA would only approve a vaccine if it was both safe and effective, but some health experts fear that a large portion of the public would not want to take it.
“Well, I believe in science, and as long as they follow the science and the CDC approves and Dr. Fauci will go take this vaccine, so I’ll be right in the line behind him, ”said Martha Crampton, from Raleigh, referring to the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, Dr Anthony Fauci.
“I feel like they’re in a hurry,” Crampton said. “If science says [it’s good] after clearing the markers they need to clear, I will be confident. If not, I will not take a vaccine. “
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