Pfizer Vaccine 90% Effectiveness is Much Better Than Expected

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COVID-19 experts were expecting the first vaccines to only be 60% or 70% effective but phase III Pfizer and Biontech results show 90% effectiveness.

Test subjects who received two injections of the vaccine three weeks apart had 90% fewer cases of symptomatic Covid-19 than those who received a placebo.

Pfizer and Biontech will file for emergency use authorization to distribute the vaccine when half of the patients in their study have been observed for any safety issues for at least two months following their second dose.

There still needs to be studies and reports on effectiveness in preventing deaths from COVID-19 and effectiveness in reducing the spread in people who do not show symptoms.

Pfizer says up to 50 million doses could be available globally. by the end of 2021. There will be 1.3 billion doses available in 2021. The vaccine must be stored at super-cold temperatures, which could make it extremely difficult to deliver to many places. Pfizer has said it is confident those issues can be managed.

The number of people who can be vaccinated is half the number of doses because it will take two injections to reach immunity. There have been no studies on how long immunity will last.

SOURCES- Pfizer, Statnews
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbi

64 thoughts on “Pfizer Vaccine 90% Effectiveness is Much Better Than Expected”

  2. Chemical deterioration and production of toxic by-products is one possibility avoided by very cold storage conditions.

    Cascade cycle refrigeration with multiple refrigerants are capable of that temperature, but are more of a custom build than industrial designs usually limited to -50ºC.

  4. Which SARS-CoV-2 variant does this vaccine target? 
    People already infected with COVID-19 from e.g. variant-1 gained antibodies that proved ineffective against recent variant 4. Some of them became ill again!
    This is not a single pandemic with successive waves, this is in fact several different pandemics.
    This virus mutates at a rate never seen before. It recombines with viruses from other species like insects, and it is even suspected to recombine with different viruses like rhinovirus.

  6. About the so-called "90% efficiency" even the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V from the Gamaleya Research Institute has a better figure of merit, although it is based on a proven old technique (attenuated live adenovirus carrying an S-antigen of SARS-Cov-2) and not a new GMO mRNA vaccine never tested before, like this vaccine from Pfizer!

    The public announcement of a "90%" efficiency had one and only one goal: to make a giant insider trading dirty trick. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla sold shares the very same day of the announce and pocketed $5.6 MILLION. Executive Vice President Sally Susman also sold for $1.8 million. All this story is not about treating or protecting people, it's about making tons of money.

    As their high rank in the hierarchy prevents them to buy or sell such amounts whenever they want, the trick was well planned long ago.

  7. Dry Ice. That is the solution for transport and storage up to 7 days that I have been hearing. Also, the vaccine is viable for 5 days after thawed if kept refrigerated at 2C or lower. In the US and EU this will not be a big issue, however in less developed nations it will need to be administered within 12 days.

  8. "Pfizer says up to 50 million doses could be available globally. by the end of 2021."

    Correct me if I am wrong, but I read it would be 50 million by the end of 2020.

  9. Well, if you are correct, then you are admitting that Pfitzer is lying for whatever reason. And lying is still lying…

    Perhaps this is a difference between conservatives and liberals? Liberals think it is OK or even virtuous to lie for a good cause…?

  10. Hello Garry, your comment is either a bot or a "stream of conciousness". Start by putting in periods and capitals for new sentences. Then explain how Jean Baptiste is wrong. Because your comment does not give us any clue..

  13. Yep, just as I was saying.
    No actual predictions at all, merely detailed discussion about what would be acceptable and how the results should be publicized.

  14. Hope they will start vaccinating soon. COVID cases are exploding all over the place. If they wait too long to get the vaccination done it will of no use.

  15. Jebus, that's cold. What kind of protocol is required to thaw that out for injection? Grab a small sub-batch and warm it when you have at least 20 or 30 people lined up?

  18. The potential vaccine contains mRNA (genetic material) hence the -80c (+/- 0.5c) requirement in the cold chain. As you probably know, there is a potential loss of viable vaccines if the cold chain doesn't work, I've read potentially 25%. That's a lot of placebos.

    Pfizer and others are obviously aware of the logistics limitations (it isn't just your freezer, it's every point along the way especially point to point transport), but not solved yet. I will be a phased roll-out in my view, and not for everyone at first.

  19. Pharmacist here…yes, -70C (-94F) is a very big deal and unachievable by most places currently. I have not been able to find any lit or data to explain why such a cold temp is needed so I find that requirement unusual and possibly suspect. Why would this vaccine need to be stored colder then the other frozen vaccine we normally deal with, Zostavax, which is kept at less than -15C (+5F). (edit: der…mRNA VS lyophilized inactivated virus. Sorry for not thinking about that before I posted. Was in drug company distrust mode)

    The good news is our lab here in the hospital has a deep freeze that will do the job and I suspect other hospital labs (at least CAP accredited labs) will also have such a freezer that could be able to pressed into service in a pinch. You will definitely not be able to go to your local clinic or pharmacy and get this one however the barriers are not insurmountable.

  20. Not bad from an industry that measures progress in geological timeframes. However good news, some things need to be clearer. One is of course storage and transportation for that many doses, there are no current capacity to do this, but can be overcome with time and money plus an accepted loss of viable doses. But it is a serious limitation for fast rollout.
    Also, a scientist friend informed me it isn't clear if the vaccine will prevent transmission as well as provide protection. Or, given the cohort were relatively healthy, what results and potential side effects there are for folks with illnesses (which may or many be not be known/treated). Also, age group efficacy is still unknown. Or, how many in the cohort will get C19 > 7 days after the second shot. Nor, how long protection will last.

    There is a reason clinical testing should take time. Even if you cut out all the really unnecessary red tape. But at least heading in the right direction. I wouldn't take it tough.

  21. Yeah I know, Ludus. Trump said there might be a vaccine ready before the end of the year. What a liar!

    We all know it's already 2023 and this vaccine is 3 years overdue.

  22. It’s distancing themselves from an administration that’s deeply distrusted for politically manipulating scientific data who’s involvement harms public trust of the vaccine.

  23. I heard somewhere else it has to kept at minus 18 deg C ( 0 deg F) Domestic freezers work at that temp. So in the first world at least that should not be a big deal.

  24. Is the temperature issue that big of an issue, as in comparison to other vaccines which need to be kept cold? As in this vaccine needs an irregularly low temperature? Or is it just a regular refrigerated medicine logistics issue?

  25. Test result analysis can be performed on the various hypotheses.

    The hypothesis here is that there is actually about 5 to 10 times as many infected people as the testing reveals.

    So the Australian figures are that about 5 million people have been tested (allowing for those with multiple tests) and that 27 000 recorded a positive result. A rate of 0.5%.

    So, that indicates that first of all we are not dealing with a high false positive case. Because the positive test results is not high at all. If we had a high false positive result we'd get a result much higher than the real number, not much lower (as per the hypothesis) or about right (as the medical authorities say).

    So could we be dealing with a high false negative result? Well, yes, we could. Maybe the tests only show up 10% of those who actually have the virus, and with no false positives, then we'd have a result of only 27 000 when the real number was 270 000.

    Has anyone suggested a false negative result of 90%? That's a ridiculously poor test. That would have shown up instantly.

    Another explanation is that for some reason the people who do have the disease are never tested. But unlikely given the range of reasons that could result in testing
    — SHowing symptoms, and they are pretty common symptoms resulting in a lot of people getting tested
    — Being in the same location as someone else, who you may never have actually met, who turned out to be infected
    — Travelling internationally, and for a while interstate

  27. Yes. People seem to be trying very hard to make divisions. Ageism has really gone berserk. In the past, the elderly always got respect. Even the middle-aged to some extent. Now…well…I don't want to be guilty of what I am grumbling about. 
    I saw my grandfather and grandmother almost every weekend growing up. I loved being around them. Grandfather was always doing something with the metal lathe or painting the house (they lived very close to the ocean). My grandmother would make dinner, and homemade jellies and jams from berries in the yard, or guavas or figs from the fig tree. Sometime we would visit her at her art studio in Balboa Park and watch her paint…and make things ourselves. My other grandparents lived in another State but every other year or so they would drive from Illinois and visit for about a month. They were great too.

  28. Dear Dr. Pat:
    Most cases worldwide are "missed." Our local gurus harvested the used samples from the private (outpatient) labs and found serology results of about 8x more positive than diagnosed.
    see: medrxiv, july 13,2020, Danuta M. Skowronski et al.
    Recall the tedious lectures on the likelihood of a test result being "correct" as a function of the prevalence of the pathogen or condition being sought. Consider "D-Dimer testing" which I find almost as useful as examining a patient.
    If you have 1000 people with colds, and a 5% false positive Covid test, you will report 50 Covid "victims', and in fact you will have 50 victims who are quarantined and isolated.

  29. Man, I'm so glad the U.S. isn't ACTUALLY a red state versus blue state thing and that neither is better than the other! ^_^

  30. COVID-19 experts were expecting the first vaccines to only be 60% or 70% effective …

    No. Not any of the things I read. I'd like a cite on that.

    What the articles I read were saying: they didn't want to promise it could be any better than 60 or 70%, because if it did turn out to be a partial vaccine after promising a complete vaccine, then the public could react in some stupid, panic.

    That's not the same thing at all.

  31. I'm happy to accept that there are missed cases world wide, or in places where the disease is out of control with a poor public health system such as UK or USA.
    But what about Australia? 9 million tests on a population of 25 million, but only found 27 668 cases. Did those 9 million tests somehow only test uninfected people? Or does this actually indicate that there is no large, asymptomatic, infected population in Australia?
    If the second option, then 907 deaths in 27 668 cases = 3.3% death rate.
    New Zealand, likewise = 1.2%

  33. At least we're not insulting, angry, bitter, hypocrite trolls like you. If you are the future and world is moving forward with your Libo Nazi Stormtrooper outlook, then it's time for a rebellion.

  34. You conveyed his meaning exactly:

    "Well, it’s good news/bad news. The good news is the Pfizer tests look good and we’ll have a vaccine shortly. The bad news is that it’s about two months before Joe Biden takes over and that means this administration is going to be implementing a vaccine plan. The vaccine plan is very important and it’s probably the most ambitious undertaking since Covid began. Just to put it in focus, we did 10 million Covid tests in this nation over seven months scrambling doing everything we can. We now have to do 330 million vaccinations, maybe twice, my state does more testing than any state in the United States. We did 12 million tests. We have to do 20 million vaccines. And the Trump Administration is rolling out the vaccination plan and I believe it’s flawed. I believe it learns nothing from the past. They’re basically going to have the private providers do it and that’s going to leave out all sorts of communities that were left out the first time when Covid ravaged them."

  36. no Jen Baptise if we start distributing it before the Danish mink farms produce more mutated strains we will have more cases on your hands mate its just not the way to do it you better stop commenting absolute rubbish before god punishes you for your sins, cheers big ears on most occasions I would say enjoy reading but on this occasion I regret to inform you enjoy hell
    love ,
    Gary Murray

  37. So there are no missed cases? Absolutely no cases that have gone untested? You really believe that the 10M confirmed cases are all there are out there? Most asymptomatic or mild cases go untested. Those cases have to be thrown in to get even close to an estimate of IFR….and most 'experts' estimate those at 5x the amount of confirmed cases….at least. So now divide the number of deaths by that number…..and you get less than 1%.

  38. It is true that he does not seem to be pleased that the Biden administration is not the one calling who gets/gives the shots. That reaction does seem to be excessive. If he wants to make sure the working poor get the shots in his State, that oppertunity will present itself. And it is possible that will not be necessary. Who knows, the Trump administration may even send some vaccine to Blue States too 😉

  43. No. Why do you lie ?.

    He doesn't say that the vaccine is bad news, but that the bad news are that the Republicans will still design the plans for vaccination, done by private providers, leaving entire communities without access to it.

  45. Good point. Maybe it's a result of the huge number of false positives current testing yields. Maybe they only test symptomatic patients, which are likely easier to correctly diagnose.

  46. That far in advance of availability guaranteed sale makes it easier to get loans at lower rates, and sell bonds. It might as well be a subsidy.
    I'm not a CEO, CFO, or even a business owner, but I know that. Seems like Pfizer's head of vaccine research and development would to. It's pretty clearly virtue signaling to the TDS bunch.

  47. Did you read the entire article smarty pants?

    "Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to rush a vaccine to market, has promised Pfizer $1.95 billion to deliver 100 million doses to the federal government, which will be given to Americans free of charge."

    That's a good incentive if you ask me…

  48. You do understand that their IFR is based on confirmed cases? That 'unconfirmed' and asymptomatic cases are at least 5x (and perhaps 10x) the number of confirmed cases? That's been a known since day 1.

  51. Just looked at worldometed site. They are reporting 6,731,599 cases which had an outcome, with 6,487,714 cases discharged/recovered at 96% leaving 243,885 as deaths at 4%. Four percent is their claim in print.

  54. Love the slap down they gave Pence after he attempted to take credit for it. Pfizer's head of vaccine research and development Kathrin Janson told news services "We were never part of the Warp Speed. We have never taken any money from the US government, or from anyone," further reinforced by CEO Albert Bourla's earlier statement emphasizing science and global cooperation, "This is going to be a vaccine for the citizens of the world."

  56. Yep, since asymptomatic cases are at least 5x the known cases, and with known cases at 10M, we'd probably have close to 2M deaths by now if the IFR was 4%

  57. The infection fatality rate is not 4%, by far. Otherwise there would be millions of deaths in the USA alone.

    It's significantly less than 1%.

  59. Where do you get that ?. I read it as the symptomatic cases on the vaccinated group are less than 10% of the symptomatic cases on the placebo group. It doesn't say a thing about the asymptomatic cases.

    I don't think that they are being deployed with less testing than usual. Massive tests with tens of thousands of volunteers are being made, probably much bigger than the average vaccine. The biggest difference is that the results are evaluated sooner.

  62. This doesn't seem to be claiming that it will prevent transmission, only reduce the severity of symptoms. If true, it doesn't really eliminate the need for distancing, etc.

    I wonder about the safety testing. I'm not an expert–is there any reason for concern that this is being deployed with presumably less testing than usual?

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