In the Journals: Pfizer’s mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine

On Nov. 9, 2020, the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, in collaboration with BioNTech SE, a German company, sent out a press release describing an interim analysis of their SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine. Of the 43,538 participants enrolled in the trial, which were divided equally (1:1) in the vaccine and placebo groups, 38,955 had completed a second dose. After evaluating the first 94 illnesses in the trial, researchers found that the mRNA vaccine was 90% effective at preventing mild to moderate infection. This meant that roughly 86 people with COVID-19 were in the placebo group and eight were in the vaccine group. These observations were made at least seven days following the second dose, which meant that the vaccine was effective within 28 days of the first dose.

Pfizer pointed out that 30% of U.S. participants had racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, but didn’t state the percent of participants that were greater than 65 years of age. The study plans to evaluate the effectiveness of the mRNA vaccine in preventing severe disease as well as effectiveness in those who had already been exposed to the virus.

Pfizer stated that it could now produce up to 50 million doses in 2020 and 1.3 billion doses in 2021.