In extremely promising news, American pharmaceutical company Pfizer has said that early results for their COVID-19 vaccine might be a startling 90 per cent effective.
The news means that, if all goes well, an effective vaccine for COVID-19 could be ready by the beginning of 2021; and the Canadian government has already signed a deal with the company from back in August to obtain millions of doses.
Pfizer says an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19. The interim analysis looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people. https://t.co/FNVgEG084Z
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 9, 2020
This doesn’t mean Canadians should really relax yet; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, though excited about the news and calling it a “light at the end of the tunnel,” stresses that social distancing and mask-wearing should still be strictly observed, along with the other established public health guidelines.
Pfizer indicates that its early human testing results for the COVID-19 vaccine – in a study evaluating tens of thousands of volunteers with 94 confirmed COVID-19 cases – show it could be as much as 90 per cent effective against the novel coronavirus, marking one of the most encouraging studies since the pandemic began.
Still, further data is needed by Pfizer before the vaccine could be rolled out, including further safety information as well as how effective the vaccine would be in preventing severe cases of the disease. Any current data is subject to change and a vaccine is not imminent.
That said, early data encouragingly shows the vaccine poses no serious safety concerns.
Read more about Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine here.
There are no comments
Add comment