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Pfizer and BioNTech said that based on preliminary findings, patient protection was achieved seven days after the second of two doses and 28 days after the first.
FILE: President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden. Image: AFP
WILMINGTON – US President-elect Joe Biden praised news that a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was 90% effective on Monday as cause for “hope”, but warned of a long battle ahead. .
“I congratulate the brilliant women and men who helped produce this breakthrough and give us cause for hope,” Biden said in a statement, adding that he received advance notice of the announcement Sunday night.
“At the same time, it is also important to understand that the battle against COVID-19 is still months away,” he added, emphasizing the continued importance of mask use for the foreseeable future.
He spoke as European stock markets and oil prices rose with the announcement of the vaccine.
Pfizer and BioNTech said that, based on preliminary findings, patient protection was achieved seven days after the second of two doses and 28 days after the first.
* READ: Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective in phase 3 trial
The companies said they expect to supply up to 50 million doses of vaccines globally in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
US President Donald Trump also praised the news, calling it “excellent” on Twitter.
Rising coronavirus cases around the world have forced many millions of people back into lockdown, causing further damage to devastated economies.
In the United States, cases have increased across the country in recent weeks. Trump’s loss to Biden last week was attributed in part to his administration’s response to the pandemic.
Also Monday, Biden named the scientists who will lead his administration’s response to the pandemic, outlining his plans to prioritize COCID-19 from the start.
The advisory board will be chaired by three co-chairs: epidemiologist and former Federal Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner David Kessler, former surgeon general Vivek Murthy and Yale professor of public health Marcella Nunez-Smith.
In addition, the board will have 10 members, ranging from immunologists and epidemiologists to biodefense experts and prominent public health officials.
Among them is Rick Bright, the virologist who was removed by the Trump administration in April from his position as head of the Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the agency charged with developing a vaccine.
A month later, he warned Congress that Trump did not have a “master plan” to combat the pandemic.
COVID-19 has left more than 237,000 people dead in the US, the worst death toll globally.
According to a Johns Hopkins University tracker, the number of new cases in the United States has surpassed 100,000 every 24 hours for several days in a row and is approaching 10 million in total, despite Trump’s claim that the economy is more The world’s greatest is “turning the corner.”
Biden said the board will help shape his approach to increasing cases across the country, as well as ensuring that a safe vaccine is distributed efficiently, creating a plan that he will begin to implement on the first day of his presidency.
Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris will receive a joint briefing on the virus Monday in Wilmington, Delaware from their advisory team.
Then, Biden will deliver comments on the coronavirus and economic recovery.
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