New York: Pfizer has said that the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing has been 90 per cent effective in Phase 3 trial. The COVID-19 vaccine is being jointly developed by ‘Pfizer’ and ‘BioNTech’. Both companies said Monday that the vaccine was 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 infections in the ongoing Phase 3 trials.
Protection in patients was achieved seven days after the second of two doses, and 28 days after the first, according to preliminary findings. “The first set of results from our Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent COVID-19,” Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.
The news about the vaccine being developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech will certainly be of great relief. The companies said that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID -19 among those who did not have any evidence evidence of prior infection.
Scientists are hoping for a coronavirus vaccine that is at least 75 per cent effective. Earlier White House coronavirus advisor Dr Anthony Fauci had previously said a vaccine that is 50% or 60% effective would be acceptable.
The results were based on the first interim efficacy analysis conducted by an external and independent ‘Data Monitoring Committee’ from the Phase 3 clinical study. The independent group of experts oversees US clinical trials to ensure the safety of participants.
The analysis evaluated 94 confirmed COVID-19 infections among the trial’s 43,538 participants. Pfizer and BioNTech said the case split between vaccinated individuals and those who received a placebo indicated a vaccine efficacy rate of above 90 per cent at seven days after the second dose.
It means that protection from COVID-19 is achieved 28 days after the initial vaccination, which consists of a two-dose schedule.
We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development programme at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen,” Bourla stated.
Roughly 42% of the trial’s participants had diverse backgrounds, Pfizer and BioNTech said. They added that there haven’t been any serious safety concerns reported yet.