Pfizer Says Its Coronavirus Vaccine Is 95% Effective And Has No Serious Side Effects
- November 19, 2020
The New York Times (11/18, Thomas) reports Pfizer announced “its coronavirus vaccine was 95 percent effective and had no serious side effects – the first set of complete results from a late-stage vaccine trial as COVID-19 cases skyrocket around the globe.” The results “showed that the vaccine prevented mild and severe forms of COVID-19.” In addition, “it was 94 percent effective in older adults, who are more vulnerable to developing severe COVID-19 and who do not respond strongly to some types of vaccines.”
The AP (11/18, Jordans, Johnson) reports Pfizer and BioNTech announced the results “just a week after they revealed the first promising preliminary results,” and this “comes as the team is preparing within days to formally ask U.S. regulators to allow emergency use of the vaccine.” An FDA “advisory panel is on standby to publicly debate the data in early December.” In addition, Pfizer and BioNTech will soon add the new data to their “rolling submissions” with drug regulators in Canada and the UK.