The Pfizer and BioNTech laboratories announce that their candidate vaccine against Covid-19 is "more than 90% effective". Huge hope, even if all is not over.
Faced with the coronavirus pandemic, finally a vaccine? This is what the US laboratory Pfizer and the German BioNtech are hoping for. This Monday, November 9, 2020, they announced a proof of effectiveness of more than 90% of their vaccine under study (what is also called a "vaccine candidate").
"More than eight months after the start of the worst pandemic in over a century, we believe this milestone represents a significant step forward for the world in our battle against Covid-19", said Pfizer chief executive officer Albert Bourla in a statement echoed by AFP and quoted by Le Monde. According to the daily, the CEO of the International Vaccine Development Coalition, Dr Richard Hatchett, called the results ’"historical" and D'"extremely positive and encouraging". "We believe these intermediate results also increase the likelihood of success for other Covid-19 vaccine candidates that use a similar approach.", he said.
A possible vaccine, yes but …
Still according to Le Monde, "These encouraging results come from the first interim analysis of a large-scale phase 3 trial, the last before an application for registration". The phase 3 trial involved 43,538 participants, as part of a study launched at the end of July in the United States, then in Germany, with results showing an efficacy of over 90%. Much better than the 50% required by the US health authority for a vaccine against the coronavirus. However, it is not known whether the product confers long-lasting immunity.
But not enough to slow down the laboratories: "Pfizer and BioNTech plan to deliver up to 100 million doses worldwide by the end of 2020, and approximately 1.3 billion doses by the end of 202", according to Le Monde. To save time, the companies began manufacturing the vaccine even before they had completed the study and passed the official approval steps. Various agreements have also been signed with states around the world: those of the European Commission as well as the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan. Today, different analysts and media, including France Info and Numérama, still call for moderation, as the results of the study remain incomplete. Still, the hope of a very soon deployment is strong.
As the World Health Organization (WHO) points out, ten other clinical trials are also in phase 3, and the search for a vaccine is animating the world. Yesterday, at the announcement of the two laboratories which seem to be taking the lead, the world stock markets soared.