Pfizer vaccine now 95% effective; will seek FDA authorization within DAYS

[Snow 17,186]

Quote

A final analysis of the Phase 3 trial of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine shows it was 95% effective in preventing infections, even in older adults, and caused no serious safety concerns, the company said Wednesday.

The company counted 170 cases of coronavirus infection among volunteers who took part in the trial. It said 162 infections were in people who got placebo, or plain saline shots, while eight cases were in participants who got the actual vaccine. That works out to an efficacy of 95%, Pfizer said. The data show Pfizer's initial claim of a better than 90% efficacy -- a claim that stunned and pleased health officials and vaccine developers last week -- holds up.

"Efficacy was consistent across age, race and ethnicity demographics. The observed efficacy in adults over 65 years of age was over 94%. There were 10 severe cases of Covid-19 observed in the trial, with nine of the cases occurring in the placebo group and one in the BNT162b2 vaccinated group," Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said in a joint statement.

Pfizer said it will seek US Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization "within days."

x

[Snow 17,186]

Previous report:

This news come just days after rival Moderna announced their vaccine is 94.5% effective (x). 

[Princess Aurora 23,440]

 

[Gilly 11,585]

INJECT ME

[Billie Frank 12,344]

1 hour ago, Snow said:

This news come just days after rival Moderna announced their vaccine is 94.5% effective (x). 

Idk why but i read that as Madonna at first. 

[GlenCoco 6,293]

 but I love working from home tho, but yeah gimmie the injection 

 

 

 

[Sine 21,978]

This is great news!

[Divine 162,838]

Do we know how much this vaccine will cost/if it will be available for lower income citizens? I know part of this race for the vaccine was so that companies couldn't patent the vaccine and make it cost an arm and a leg to get it but seeing as how these are private companies my hopes aren't very high.

[Snow 17,186]

34 minutes ago, Divine said:

Do we know how much this vaccine will cost/if it will be available for lower income citizens? I know part of this race for the vaccine was so that companies couldn't patent the vaccine and make it cost an arm and a leg to get it but seeing as how these are private companies my hopes aren't very high.

PRICE LIST
Pfizer-BioNTech - $20 per dose
Moderna - $32-$37 per dose
AstraZeneca-Oxford -  $3-$4 per dose, but you need 2 doses
Johnson & Johnson - $10-$15 per dose

This is what we know so far based on several sources. 

I think pretty much all the leading vaccine-making candidates have pledged that they will supply their vaccines at no profit.. but it's pretty clear that some companies, like Moderna, are in it for the profit. $37 isn't astronomically high, but some reports are suggesting that it could definitely have been lower. 

Plus, the prices will vary around the world. One of the main reasons for this is the distribution/storage issue; some of the vaccines need to be refrigerated and/or frozen to remain stable & effective, and even then they'll still have a limited shelf life, which makes shipping very tricky. Even in the US the prices may vary from state to state. But I think the government will probably roll out subsidies to make sure it's affordable, and stays affordable.

[Freaky Prince 37,250]

4 hours ago, Snow said:

PRICE LIST
Pfizer-BioNTech - $20 per dose
Moderna - $32-$37 per dose
AstraZeneca-Oxford -  $3-$4 per dose, but you need 2 doses
Johnson & Johnson - $10-$15 per dose

This is what we know so far based on several sources. 

I think pretty much all the leading vaccine-making candidates have pledged that they will supply their vaccines at no profit.. but it's pretty clear that some companies, like Moderna, are in it for the profit. $37 isn't astronomically high, but some reports are suggesting that it could definitely have been lower. 

Plus, the prices will vary around the world. One of the main reasons for this is the distribution/storage issue; some of the vaccines need to be refrigerated and/or frozen to remain stable & effective, and even then they'll still have a limited shelf life, which makes shipping very tricky. Even in the US the prices may vary from state to state. But I think the government will probably roll out subsidies to make sure it's affordable, and stays affordable.

Is it known how many doses people will have to take? Or will it be a yearly vaccine like the one for regular flu?

[Snow 17,186]

5 hours ago, Freaky Prince said:

Is it known how many doses people will have to take? Or will it be a yearly vaccine like the one for regular flu?

The amount of doses you need to take will depend on the vaccine, most seem to require one but AstraZeneca-Oxford's will require two (taken a month or two apart). However I think for all the vaccines so far, depending on how your immune responses react to the vaccine, you may need to take additional booster shots. There may eventually be higher dose versions of the vaccines to avoid this, but I don't think that's been explored yet.

Whether this will be a one-time thing or a yearly thing isn't known yet, that will depend on how long the immunity these vaccines give us last. We should have a better picture of that later this year or early next year. But considering how the virus can mutate (it's already mutated to spread to mink in some places), it's not unlikely that we may end up having to take them more than once in our lifetime.

Unlike the influenza virus though, the coronavirus does mutate rather slowly, so even if we need to get vaccinated multiple times it may not have to be yearly (optimistically speaking, every 5-10 years).