Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines more than 90% effective; experts say "Hopeful but vigilant"
- 3 years ago
화이자, 코로나 백신 90% 예방 효과... 전문가 "긍정적이지만 아직은 경계해야"
Our starting point tonight: finally a piece of good news on the pandemic front.
As Covid cases surge in the U.S. and elsewhere, with little relief in sight, Pfizer and its partner, the German company, BioNTech, announced preliminary results that suggest their vaccine was more than 90 percent effective.
The news is the first set of results from any late-stage vaccine trial and buoyed stock markets and spirits as the public saw a glimmer of hope. But it's worth noting that the news is still preliminary, and there is much that is still not known about how well the vaccine works.
Choi Wonjong leads our coverage tonight.
The world is one major step closer to the first batches of a coronavirus vaccine.
The American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner company, BioNTech, announced preliminary results on Monday,... suggesting that their COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90-percent effective.
In clinical trials that started in July on nearly 44-thousand participants, half got the real vaccine the other half a placebo. Only 94 participants ended up COVID-19 positive.
Pfizer said it will likely apply for emergency use authorization from the U.S. FDA in the third week of November.
They project that nearly 50 million doses will be ready in 2020, and 1-point-3 billion next year.
Dr. Anh Wartel at the International Vaccine Institute is optimistic about the vaccine's development going forward.
"What we learn lately is that the vaccine gets 90-percent estimate is very very high, which is great. And actually it's a highly protective vaccine. It's also showing that making COVID-19 is possible with the high protection."
The Pfizer product is an mRNA vaccine, and the results could encourage other vaccine developers to use the same approach.
South Korea said it views the Pfizer news as positive, and is in talks to use the vaccine if it's successful.
"For Korea, Korea might be one of the those receiving the vaccines if they will decide to market the vaccine in the country so I would say for Korean government they have to make a decision which vaccines should be licensed or used in Korea."
However, there are still concerns about safety when it comes to supply and distribution.
The Pfizer vaccine will have to be shipped and stored at extremely cold temperatures, which can be a challenge.
"Some safety signal may be detected afterwards because the results that we have seen generated in the well control settings...But when you deploy the vaccines widely in the country you may see additional safety signal that could come up."
"When asked about what the public should do until the vaccines are fully available, she said it's still important to follow the virus prevention guidelines to stop the spread of COVID-19. Choi Won-jong, Arirang News.
Our starting point tonight: finally a piece of good news on the pandemic front.
As Covid cases surge in the U.S. and elsewhere, with little relief in sight, Pfizer and its partner, the German company, BioNTech, announced preliminary results that suggest their vaccine was more than 90 percent effective.
The news is the first set of results from any late-stage vaccine trial and buoyed stock markets and spirits as the public saw a glimmer of hope. But it's worth noting that the news is still preliminary, and there is much that is still not known about how well the vaccine works.
Choi Wonjong leads our coverage tonight.
The world is one major step closer to the first batches of a coronavirus vaccine.
The American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner company, BioNTech, announced preliminary results on Monday,... suggesting that their COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90-percent effective.
In clinical trials that started in July on nearly 44-thousand participants, half got the real vaccine the other half a placebo. Only 94 participants ended up COVID-19 positive.
Pfizer said it will likely apply for emergency use authorization from the U.S. FDA in the third week of November.
They project that nearly 50 million doses will be ready in 2020, and 1-point-3 billion next year.
Dr. Anh Wartel at the International Vaccine Institute is optimistic about the vaccine's development going forward.
"What we learn lately is that the vaccine gets 90-percent estimate is very very high, which is great. And actually it's a highly protective vaccine. It's also showing that making COVID-19 is possible with the high protection."
The Pfizer product is an mRNA vaccine, and the results could encourage other vaccine developers to use the same approach.
South Korea said it views the Pfizer news as positive, and is in talks to use the vaccine if it's successful.
"For Korea, Korea might be one of the those receiving the vaccines if they will decide to market the vaccine in the country so I would say for Korean government they have to make a decision which vaccines should be licensed or used in Korea."
However, there are still concerns about safety when it comes to supply and distribution.
The Pfizer vaccine will have to be shipped and stored at extremely cold temperatures, which can be a challenge.
"Some safety signal may be detected afterwards because the results that we have seen generated in the well control settings...But when you deploy the vaccines widely in the country you may see additional safety signal that could come up."
"When asked about what the public should do until the vaccines are fully available, she said it's still important to follow the virus prevention guidelines to stop the spread of COVID-19. Choi Won-jong, Arirang News.