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“Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from phase 3 clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine provides the first evidence of the ability of our vaccine to prevent Covid-19, ”said Albert Bourla, Chairman of the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer .
Pfizer and BioNTech, which created the vaccine, announced in a press release this Monday that the vaccine they have in clinical trials has shown more than 90% effectiveness in preventing Covid-19 disease, seven days after taking it. the second dose of the vaccine, in people who had not previously been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
STAT News says this means that more than 90% of the participants who showed symptoms of Covid-19 (and who tested positive for the virus) had received the placebo vaccine and not the vaccine against Covid-19, that is, nine or fewer they had received the vaccine. In other words, and according to little-known data, those who took the vaccine were more protected than those who took the placebo.
UPDATE: We are proud to announce, along with @BioNTech_Group, that our mRNA based #vaccine candidate has shown, in an interim analysis, initial evidence of efficacy against # COVID-19 in participants without prior evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
– Pfizer Inc. (@pfizer) November 9, 2020
In total there are 94 participants and the results were analyzed by a group of independent scientists. Pfizer and BioNTech say they know nothing more about the results than what was announced in the press release, which, in the opinion of some experts, is too little to draw any conclusions about what the future will bring.
“If that value [90%] hold on, it’s amazing. It is much better than I expected and it will make a huge difference, ”said Ashish Jha, dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University, as quoted by STAT News. The problem is that it is very difficult to make a scientific evaluation based solely on a press release – scientists need to see complete data.
Simon Clarke, a professor of cell microbiology at the University of Reading, remains confident: “It seems highly unlikely that a major pharmaceutical company could give incorrect information on long-awaited news,” he said, quoted by The Guardian.
Pfizer’s vaccine is 90% effective. “Today is a great day for science and humanity,” announced the CEO of the company.
In addition to complete data not being released to support the announced conclusions, other information is lacking: whether the vaccine prevents severe cases of Covid-19 (those that lead to hospitalization or death) or whether a person may be asymptomatic thanks to vaccine but still transmits the virus. Of course, it is not yet possible to know how long the immunity will last; To find out if immunity lasts for six or 12 months, you need to follow the volunteers during that time period.
“We need to see the real data and we are going to need long-term results,” said Jesse Goodman, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Georgetown University, as quoted by The New York Times.
The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine uses messenger RNA (mRNA). In a normal situation, this mRNA carries a message from the genetic code of the virus (or a cell) to a small cell factory where a protein will be produced from that message. This vaccine does not have the genetic code of the virus, but only a part of the mRNA that is capable of making human cells produce the protein. spike (which exists on the surface of the virus capsule). When cells release this protein into the bloodstream, the immune system detects it and produces antibodies. So hopefully the answer is ready by the time the person is actually infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
This vaccine began development in January, when Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, first read about the virus in the scientific journal The Lancet and the first cases were detected in Europe, says The New York Times.
The technology for this type of vaccine has been developed before, although no vaccine created in this way has reached the market. The advantage is that, with the framework in place, it is relatively quick to search for potential vaccine candidates. BioNTech found 20 candidates that it immediately began testing in rodents, but lacked the ability to conduct human clinical trials. Thus was born the partnership with Pfizer. In the first human clinical trials, the two companies chose the two vaccines that elicited the best immune responses: with antibodies and T cells.
Moderna also has an mRNA-based vaccine and is also advanced in phase 3 clinical trials. Other companies have vaccines based on attenuated forms of the virus or viral proteins, for example.
Although some experts show some caution because the data that led pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech to say that the initial data showed an efficiency of more than 90% is not yet known, others are satisfied with the results and other data that can be deleted . beyond effectiveness.
1. A protein spike that helps the virus to enter the cell is a good option
“There was always a discussion about whether the protein spike What was the appropriate target for vaccines? Well, now we know it is, ”Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told STAT News. “So it is not just immediate good news, but it gives confidence about what will happen in the coming months with the other vaccines.”
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