The Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE prevented more than 90% of symptomatic infections in a study of tens of thousands of volunteers, the most encouraging scientific advance so far in the battle against the coronavirus.
Their analysis shows a much better performance than most experts had hoped for and brings into view a potential end to a pandemic that has killed more than a million people, battered economies and upended daily life worldwide.
The company says there have been no serious side-effects while the high percentage of those protected makes the findings especially compelling. Regulators have said they would approve a vaccine that has a far lower 50% effectiveness rate – protecting half of those who get it.
The two companies became the first drugmakers to release successful trial data.
“The mRNA-based vaccine candidate demonstrated evidence of efficacy against COVID-19 in participants without prior evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, based on the first interim efficacy analysis conducted on November 8, 2020 by an external, independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) from the Phase 3 clinical study,” the company said in a statement.
The preliminary results pave the way for the companies to seek an emergency-use authorization from regulators if further research shows the shot is also safe.
However, the efficacy of the final vaccine may vary as more results continue to pour in. “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,” said Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla in a statement.
The current findings are based on an interim analysis conducted after 94 participants contracted the virus and will continue until 164 cases have occurred. If the data holds up, it could mean a milestone for the world, which has been scrambling to find a cure for COVID-19 for nearly a year now.
