SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Pfizer Inc said on Monday its experimental coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective, a major victory in the fight against a pandemic that has killed more than a million people.
The American multinational pharmaceutical corporation and German partner BioNTech SE are the first drugmakers to release successful date from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine.
The companies said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek U.S. authorization this month for emergency use of the vaccine, according to Reuters.
If authorized, the number of doses will initially be limited and many questions remain, including how long the vaccine will provide protection. However, the news provides hope that the coronavirus vaccines in development may also prove effective.
“Today is a great day for science and humanity,” Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive, said, Reuters reported.
“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economics struggling to reopen.”
Reuters cited BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin as saying that he was optimistic the immunization effect of the vaccine would last for a year although that was not certain yet.
“The efficacy data are really impressive. This is better than most of us anticipated,” said William Schaffner, infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee.
“The study isn’t completed yet, but nonetheless the data look very solid,” Schaffner added.
Pfizer expects to seek broad U.S. authorization for emergency use of the vaccine for people aged 16 to 85. To do so, it will need two months of safety data from about half the study’s 44,000 participants, which is expected later this month.
