Hopes are soaring that a COVID-19 vaccine is within reach following news that an interim analysis has shown the vaccine developed by Pfizer in partnership with German-based BioNTech was 90% effective in protecting people from transmission of the virus in global trials.
The vaccine performed much better than most experts had hoped for. It brought a big burst of optimism to a world desperate for the means to finally bring under control the pandemic that has killed more than a million and battered economies worldwide, “We’re in a position potentially to be able to offer some hope. We’re very encouraged,” Dr. Bill Gruber, Pfizer’s senior vice president of clinical development said.
The vaccine is now on track to apply later this month for emergency-use approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, once it has the necessary safety information in hand. Even if all goes well, authorities have stressed it is unlikely any vaccine will arrive much before the end of the year, and the limited initial supplies will be rationed.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious-disease expert, said the results suggesting 90% effectiveness are “just extraordinary,” adding: “Not very many people expected it would be as high as that.”
“It’s going to have a major impact on everything we do with respect to COVID,” Fauci said as Pfizer appeared to take the lead in the all-out global race by pharmaceutical companies and various countries to develop a well-tested vaccine against the virus.
Dr. Bruce Aylward, the World Health Organization’s senior adviser, said Pfizer’s vaccine could “fundamentally change the direction of this crisis” by March, when the U.N. agency hopes to start vaccinating high-risk groups.
Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, former chief of the FDA’s vaccine division, called the partial results “extremely promising” but ticked off many questions still to be answered, including how long the vaccine’s effects last and whether it protects older people as well as younger ones.
Pfizer’s vaccine is among four candidates already in huge studies in the U.S., with still more being tested in other countries. Another U.S. company, Moderna Inc., also hopes to file an application with the FDA late this month.
Pfizer has estimated it could have 50 million doses available globally by the end of 2020, enough for 25 million people.