Whether it’s an exam grade or free throws, 90% is a result that sounds good and that is even truer for a coronavirus vaccine.
Drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech announced a “great day for science and humanity” with a 90% effective rate for their COVID-19 vaccine trial among those not previously affected.
“I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla told CNBC. “I believe this is likely the most significant medical advance in the last 100 years, if you count the impact this will have in public health, global economy.”
U.S. stock futures and Asian shares jumped Monday in relation to the news and the election, which is expected to improve U.S.-Asia diplomacy and trade. Some airline and cruise industry stocks rose 20% to 30% after being severely affected by the pandemic that has caused more than 237,000 deaths and 10 million cases in the U.S.
An independent committee’s analysis evaluated 94 infections among the trial’s 43,538 participants. After splitting those receiving the vaccine and a placebo, the vaccine efficacy rate was more than 90% a week after the second dose. That two-dose schedule spans four weeks.
Pfizer and BioNTech plan to apply for federal emergency use authorization in late November when it has two months of data. They project an ability to produce up to 50-million vaccine doses before the end of the year, with U.S. official hoping it is ready for distribution in early 2021.
It’s a process that can’t be safely done soon enough for the world, and it might be record-setting time too. It took a mumps vaccine four years to be licensed.
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