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BioNTech’s manager on the time horizon: – I’m sure of that.
Last week, BioNTech and co-developers Pfizer announced that a preliminary analysis showed that their vaccine was more than 90% effective.
“The vaccine was 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19 in participants who had not previously had Sars Cov-2 infection,” the press release said.
The study had a total of 43,538 participants.
Facts about the covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech
* On Monday, US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech announced that the covid-19 vaccine they are developing together appears to be successful.
* The vaccine is now in phase 3, which is the last phase of testing before it can be approved. The first test results show that the vaccine is 90 percent effective. This means that 90 percent of those vaccinated are protected against the coronavirus.
* The effect of the common seasonal flu vaccine varies from year to year, but on average it has been 60 percent effective, according to Norwegian health authorities. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires an effect of at least 50 percent to approve the covid-19 vaccine.
* 43,538 people have participated in the study of the new vaccine for Pfizer and BioNTech. So far, no reason for serious concerns about the safety of the vaccine has been identified, the companies say.
* 94 of those who participated in the study, however, developed covid-19 disease. To get enough data to apply for approval, drug companies must wait until more people have been diagnosed with the infection, the companies write. This will probably happen as early as the third week of November.
* The news of the vaccine has caused a rise in the stock market worldwide.
* The vaccine is one of many currently being tested. At least 11 vaccines have reached phase three, according to a New York Times report.
* It has been previously estimated that the first covid-19 vaccine could be approved during the year and that the first doses of vaccine could arrive in Norway early next year. But it will probably be months before you have received enough vaccine doses for a large proportion of the population to be vaccinated.
(Sources: Pfizer, Health Norway, NTB, New York Times, AFP, AP)
In an interview with the BBC, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin says he is confident the vaccine will reduce human-to-human transmission.
According to Sahin, the vaccine could cut transmission in half, which will have a big impact:
– I am very confident that human-to-human transmission will be reduced with such an effective vaccine – maybe not 90 percent, but maybe 50 percent – but we must not forget that even this can result in a dramatic reduction in spread of the pandemic, he says.
If all goes well, the vaccine will be delivered “late this year, early next year,” says Sahin.
The goal, in the first instance, is to deliver more than 300 million doses worldwide by April next year, which will be a start.
Usually next winter
The biggest effect will come later, according to Sahin:
– Summer will help us because the contagion rate will drop in summer, and what is absolutely essential is that many get vaccinated before autumn / winter next year.
Wait and believe that life can return to normal next winter.
– I’m sure that next year we can have a normal winter, he says.
Also read: Teacher: Giving Norwegian coronary vaccines to poor countries
50 percent in Norway
Deputy Health Director Espen Rostrup Nakstad said this week that he believes life can only return when 50 percent of adults in Norway have been vaccinated:
“We will probably depend on at least half of the adult population in Norway getting vaccinated before this virus can no longer spread much and then we can put an end to many of these measures that we have had,” Nakstad told P4 News.
But when you get there, there is still a little blue. This depends on how quickly producers get enough vaccine and how the virus is likely to change, says Nakstad, who believes the vaccine will be available in Norway during the first half of 2021.
Also read: The world applauded the news about vaccines, but the bad news for Norway was ignored
With half of all adults vaccinated, the virus will continue to exist in Norway, and even greater vaccine coverage is needed to make it disappear completely.
But if you have received the vaccine, you can live much more normally than those who do not take it, explains Nakstad:
– Yes, at least it is the case today that those who have undergone covid-19, for example, the last six months, and can document it, are released from quarantine. And there is no reason for those who have been vaccinated to be quarantined if they have been in contact with a sick person, so such things will expire with vaccination.
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