Covid vaccine, “effective in preventing 90 percent of infections.” This is how BNT162 from Pfizer and Biontech works

A Covid vaccine candidate jointly developed by Pfizer me BioNTech it was effective in preventing 90 percent of infections during phase 3 of the trial, which is still ongoing. The announcement comes from Pfizer Chairman Albert Bourla, and the story is published in the Washington Post. The first data from the last phase of the experimentation are analyzed by an independent committee that met yesterday. Pfizer had submitted the application for authorization to the EMA (European Medicines Agency) on October 6.

The BNT162 candidate vaccine developed by the German company BioNTech uses messenger RNA, similar to that of the Moderna company, also in phase 3. The company developed the vaccine in collaboration with the Pfizer in the United Statesand with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group in China. The companies have selected one of their four initial candidates for human testing, which generated the most promising antibody responses, to now move on to a phase 3 study of 30,000 people. the United States and United Kingdom have reached agreements to ensure the supply of this vaccine. CEO of Pfizer Albert bourla had stated that this vaccine is likely to become a seasonal administration like the flu. Also in this case an application for authorization was submitted.

To understand the importance of the news, if this is confirmed by the final data on experimentation, it is enough to remember that a few weeks ago the American Journal of Preventive Medicine published a work in which it was explained that in the absence of other interventions to prevent an epidemic, the vaccine must be effective (i.e. likely to prevent infection) at least 70% when vaccination covers at least 75% of the population. While to extinguish an ongoing epidemic and avoid the need for other measures (for example, social distancing), the vaccine must be at least 80% effective with 75% vaccination coverage. Obviously, achieving 75% coverage is not easy, since you need to have the number of doses and the personnel necessary to administer it.

With Pfizer and Moderna in the final phase, there are at least nine other candidate vaccines. Including the Oxford AstraZeneca which will also be tested in Italy. The tests will begin in December at the Aou in Modena, one of the seven Italian centers selected for this delicate and complex phase of the vaccine study. 300 volunteers will sign up in Modena alone. The first results will be achieved in six months, while the hope is that the vaccine will be available to the population in April 2021. “We are part of a worldwide study of 30 thousand patients – explained in videoconference Cristina Mussini, director of the complex structure of Infectious Diseases Aou de Modena and professor at UniMoRe, and this will require a huge effort. Our room for maneuver for longer bureaucratic times is nil ”, he stresses, on pain of excluding the center of experimentation. “We look forward to participation.” And judging by the location, which is the Polyclinic switchboard jammed “as if we were at war” with orders, it won’t cost you to find candidates.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has “signed pre-purchase contracts with three pharmaceutical companies that are developing a vaccine against Covid-19”, AstraZeneca, Sanofi-Gsk and Johnson & Johnson. “We are negotiating contracts with three other companies, including Biontech-Pfizer,” recalls the spokesman for the Health Commission, Stefan de Keersmaecker, during the press conference in Brussels. “As soon as we have reached an agreement on the contract with Biontech-Pfizer or another company, we will inform you. What we care about is developing a portfolio of vaccines that is as diverse as possible“.