As the United States and other countries were dealing with record-shattering COVID-19 cases, the world got some good news on Monday.
Pfizer Inc. and its partner, BioNTech announced preliminary results that suggested their COVID-19 vaccine may be strikingly 90% effective. This was based on early, and incomplete trial results, nonetheless, this announcement brought a burst of optimism to the world desperate for controlling the catastrophic outbreak.
Pfizer, in partnership with the German drugmaker BioNTech, only released sparse details from their clinical trials based on the first formal review of the data. The company stated that the analysis found the vaccine to be more than 90% effective in preventing the infection among trial volunteers.
Scientists are hoping for a COVID-19 vaccine that would be at least 75% effective. The white house coronavirus advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci has said one that is 50% or 60% effective would be acceptable.
The vaccine’s results sparked a burst of optimism.
Dr. Anthony Fauci stated the results suggesting 90% effectiveness is “just extraordinary.” “Not very many people expected it would be as high as that,” Fauci continued.
“It’s going to have a major impact on everything we do with respect to COVID,” Fauci stated.
It’s also worth noting that the results were based on the first interim efficacy analysis conducted by an external and independent Data Monitoring Committee. So, there is much that is still not known about the effectiveness of the vaccine. Pfizer stated that the results are likely to change once more COVID-19 cases are added to the calculations.
Assuming that everything goes well, authorities have suggested that it is very unlikely that the vaccine will arrive before the end of the year, and the limited supplies will be rationed.
U.S health officials and researchers are hoping that the vaccine to prevent the infection would be ready by the first half of 2021 since Chinese scientists first identified the coronavirus and mapped its genetic sequence.
Experts still recommend that people follow proper precautions by wearing masks, and maintaining a six-feet distance from others.
Despite the hopeful news, the nation still experiences a striking increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Experts also state that the world will need many treatments, and vaccines to bring an end to the pandemic.
As more data is being collected, it is recommended that people rely on masks, and social distancing in the meantime because the country still faces a dark, and deadly winter.
Update: 23 November
The United States, and other nations still dealing with the skyrocketing cases some more good news on Monday, November 16th.
The biotech company Moderna Inc. announced on Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective, joining Pfizer as the front-runner in the global race to contain a raging pandemic.
This news comes exactly a week after Pfizer, and its partner BioNTech announced broadly similar results.
Early clinical trials showed that the vaccine is strongly effective against Covid-19, building excitement about the potential of controlling the deadly pandemic.
Both Pfizer and Moderna plan to apply to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization to begin vaccinating the public. Officials have said that both of the companies are capable of producing vaccine enough for a little more than 20 million people in the United States by sometime December. The first doses will be going to people with the highest risk such as health care workers, emergency medical workers, and frail residents of nursing homes.
But a vaccine available to the public is still months away, while the need is becoming increasingly urgent.
Currently, the pandemic has infected more than 53 million people around the world. Cases in the U.S are soaring, setting records every day. The United States has seen more than 11 million cases and 246,000 deaths. On average, Covid-19 is killing more than 1,100 Americans a day, and the last million cases occurred in just six days.
Some states and cities started to restrain lockdowns restricting gatherings, issuing mask mandates, setting curfews for bars and restaurants, and closing schools again. In many areas, hospitals are overwhelmed.
Despite this sobering news, the vaccine effectiveness rate sparked another burst of optimism.
Many health officials greeted Moderna’s news with a trifle of excitement, especially when viewed alongside the data released last week by Pfizer
The white house coronavirus advisor, who has often said he would have been satisfied with Covid vaccines that were 70% or 75% efficacy, said, “I’d like to say I would have predicted it, but I would not have.” “
Honestly, I would not have expected that. I thought that was too much to hope for,” he told STAT.
These companies’ success has brought a series of excitement to the world desperate for controlling the raging virus.
Even with the development of a vaccine, it is recommended that people continue to take drastic measures, and precautions considering that the U.S is facing a rough winter.
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