COVID-19: Pfizer has 90 per cent effective vaccine. What happens next?

Stock markets are booming scientists are hailing Pfizers vaccine which has shown 90 percent effectiveness and corporates are already imagining the sunny prospect of a return to oncampus work but Pfizer is reminding everyone that it still needs to check off three boxes before its silver bullet progresses toward emergency use authorisationPfizer explains that there needs to be success in the following three areas Evidence of efficacy in most vaccinated patients evidence of safety with data from thousands of patients and manufacturing which is consistently at the highest quality standardsEarly Monday Pfizer and German partner BioNTech released efficacy results from a late stage study of its Covid19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2 The company reported it was 90 per cent effective after looking at 94 infections in a study that has enrolled more than 43000 people in the US and five other countries Some got the vaccine others got dummy shotsThe Phase 3 clinical trial began on July 27 Nearly 39000 people have received a second dose of the vaccine candidate by November 8 2020The next milestone for Pfizer and BioNTech is the third week of November By then a median of 60 days of safety data will be available as required by the FDA in its guidance for potential Emergency Use AuthorizationThe Pfizer BioNTech shot is one among 10 vaccine candidates in latestage testing globally Moderna another US pharma giant is also optimistic Dr Anthony Fauci the US governments topinfectious disease expert said today that Modernas vaccine is also likely to work outIn an interview with Bloomberg William Moss of Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center laid out three questions that still need answers despite the hugely encouraging despatch from Pfizer today How long does this protection last What kind of disease did this prevent Was it mild or severeThey are telling us whether the vaccine protects against the disease they are not telling us whether it prevents transmissionMoss said that if people let up on masking up and social distancing thinking that the vaccine has arrived and not knowing if it stops transmission too the effects may be seen in rising cases as a result of letting up on proven safety behavioursBased on current projections Pfizer and BioNTech expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 13 billion doses in 2021Dr Fauci said the results of the Pfizer vaccines 90 per cent effectiveness are just extraordinaryNot very many people expected it would be as high as that Its going to have a major impact on everything we do with respect to COVID Fauci said in a call with reportersStocks are surging and Wall Street is climbing merrily back to record heights Although the vaccine news is not a quick fix the reaction is one of sheer reliefGood for earnings good for consumer behaviour good all around is the word on the street according to Bloomberg Intelligence during postlunch trading in New YorkConfirmed coronavirus infections in the United States shot past the 10 million mark and more than a quarter million Americans 237000 are dead from the virusKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever