Team News Riveting
The US drugmaker Pfizer said that the final results of the clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine with partner BioNTech SE was 95 percent effective.
The companies are all set to seek emergency authorisation for use of the shots from regulators.
The company said the COVID-19 vaccine was showing signs of being safe for people across all ages and ethnicities and that no significant problems have been registered so far in the nearly 44,000 participants.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Pfizer plans to seek approval for the vaccine’s use within days. This will mean the COVID vaccine could be available for distribution by year-end.
Out of 170 adult volunteers, in the nearly 44,000-subject trial who developed Covid-19 with at least one symptom, 162 received a placebo, while eight got the vaccine, Pfizer and BioNTech said.
This 95 percent effectiveness rate brings the experimental candidate on par with the likes of shingles and measles vaccines.
“The study results mark an important step in this historic eight-month journey to bring forward a vaccine capable of helping to end this devastating pandemic,” Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said. “We continue to move at the speed of science to compile all the data collected thus far and share with regulators around the world,” the report said.
