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The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has completed the trial of the BNT162b2 vaccine, which shows that the product is 95% effective, leaving no significant side effects.
In a statement dated November 18, the company representative said this was the first full result of a late stage test. The data showed that the vaccine, which prevents both mild and severe forms of Covid-19, is 94% effective in the elderly, vulnerable groups with severe nCoV infection.
Pfizer plans to submit an urgent approval request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the coming days, and hopes to launch an effective vaccine soon that will help end the pandemic.
The test results were released less than a year after scientists began work on the vaccine, breaking all records for speed of development. This process has been going on for many years, even decades.
“The study results mark a milestone in the historic eight-month journey to find a vaccine that can help end this devastating pandemic,” said Dr. Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer. know in a statement.
If allowed by the FDA, the company can produce up to 50 million injections by the end of the year, reaching 1.3 billion doses by 2021. Only about half of that supply is distributed to the US, enough for about 12.5 million. of people. The United States government intends to vaccinate people for free, under the terms of a $ 1.95 billion agreement the federal government has with Pfizer.
Pfizer Vaccine Trial Volunteer in Peru, November 2020. Image: Reuters
Other results are consistent with initial data the company reported last week, showing that the vaccine is 90% effective.
The Pfizer trial included nearly 44,000 volunteers, divided into two groups. Half of the vaccine was administered and the other half used a placebo. After that, experts wait to see how many people are infected with nCoV. To date, the company said that of the 170 volunteers infected with Covid-19, only eight were vaccinated and the remaining 162 were taking a placebo. Of 10 cases with severe symptoms, only one was vaccinated.
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech say the vaccine’s efficacy is consistent across all ages, races, and ethnicities. The most common and serious side effect is fatigue. 3.7% of the volunteers said they were tired after the second injection of the vaccine. 2% reported headache symptoms. Older adults experience fewer side effects.
Pfizer’s BNT162b2 vaccine is based on the genetic molecule RNA, which stimulates human cells to produce viral proteins. The immune system comes into contact with the protein and produces antibodies, the immune cells recognize and destroy the pathogen.
Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University, said: “This is quite surprising. We understand that it is very difficult for the flu vaccine to be effective in this age group. So 94% is really impressive.”
Health officials said the first doses of the vaccine are likely to be for people susceptible to disease or for first-line doctors who are at high risk of exposure to the virus. Both Pfizer and Moderna acknowledge that pandemic stress has accelerated vaccine development and testing, as volunteers are increasingly infected with nCoV.
After Pfizer, Russia also announced that its Sputnik vaccine was 92% effective, but did not provide detailed data. The pharmaceutical company Moderna also announced a few days ago that its vaccine is 94.5% effective.
Thuc Linh (According to the The Times of New York City)
