What You Should Know About Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine That Is Announced 90% Effective

Hanima Anand |Nov 11, 2020

Though the latest preliminary test result affirms Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is over 90% effective, there remain various concerns about its efficacy.

Earlier this week, the pharmacy giant Pfizer from the United States announced the preliminary results of their vaccine produced with German partner BioTech suggest impressive effectiveness of over 90%. However, should we celebrate this early success at this moment?

Pfizer Covid 19 Vaccine
Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine could be the light at the end of the tunnel in 2020.

Understanding the preliminary results

To decide whether you should be hopeful with Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine as for now, we should take a look at what these scientists have found out during the preliminary test.

Back in July 2020, Pfizer and BioNTech have conducted a late-stage clinical state on one of 20 coronavirus vaccines they have developed. 44,000 volunteers are divided into two groups without knowing which type of substance they are injected with.

Half of these people got the vaccine while the others were injected with a placebo (in this case is saltwater).

Pfizer Covid 19 Vaccine Trial
Only 94 out of 44,000 participants in the trial got infected with Covid-19 after injection.

An independent board of experts was set up to measure the result. They were informed of the number getting vaccines as well as how many got the placebo. After the test, they found that only 94 people out of 44,000 have contracted Covid-19. Further analysis suggests that the Pfizer vaccine is more than 90% effective.

However, the problem here is no one, except for the independent board, knows how many people of those 94 people were of the placebo group. That means we don’t know the effectiveness of the so-called placebo in this test to compare. We only got their reports on the vaccines.

Having said that, whatever the result of the placebo group is, the figure of over 90% effectiveness for the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is an encouraging sign, which is synonymous with very few people got infected post-vaccination.

Biontech Scientists Behind Pfizer Vaccine
The two BioNTech scientists who developed the vaccine

If the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine proves the same efficacy in real-life as in its preliminary, it will be the life savior of millions of people on Earth. In fact, the measles vaccines being used in the US now are 97% effective. Hardly is there any medical solution that gives 100% efficacy.

Side-effects of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine

Till now, there isn’t any report of serious health concerns among volunteers who took the vaccination in the trial. For your information, BioNTech and Pfizer have run smaller-scale trials in May for 4 versions of this vaccine to test its safety.

After those clinical trials, the safest version that causes the fewest cases of mild side effects was chosen for the large-scale test.

Some volunteers report moderate side effects namely fever and fatigue. Their health would be monitored in the next 2 years for further analysis.

So far, we can call this Pfizer vaccine safe for mass distribution, of course after it submits empirical evidence of its safety level.

When are Pfizer vaccines distributed to the general public?

According to Pfizer, they are planning for emergency authorization in the 3rd week of November. After that, they could launch their mass manufacturing of 1.3 billion doses a year at max.

If everything goes smoothly, Americans might be vaccinated from December, 2020.

Pfizer Covid 19 Production
Pfizer committed to producing 1.3 billion doses each year if approved.

>>> Read more: Denmark Planned To Kill 17 Million Minks To Curb Covid-19 Spread, A Sign of Human Superiority Or Inferiority?

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