India’s total coronavirus case stands at more than 8.6 million with 38,074 new cases reported. While the number of new cases are increasing but there is one good news coming from one of the leading vaccine companies. Pfizer announced a breakthrough with their vaccine being 90% effective in the phase 3 trial.
Check out what everything you need to know:
US drug-maker Pfizer has developed this vaccine with the German pharma company BioNTech. Pfizer has released preliminary data from late-stage human trials and has claimed that the vaccine is 90% effective. Later this month, the vaccine is headed for a review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
By far the vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people and no safety concerns have been raised. Pfizer and BioNTech have to get regulators to sign off on the shot before it can start shipping vaccines to those considered most in need by the government. Healthcare workers and people living in nursing homes will likely be the first ones on the list. The company hopes to deliver 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.
The phase 3 trials of this vaccine candidate began on July 27 and have so far enrolled 43,538 participants, 38,955 of whom had received a second dose as of November 8.
Type of vaccine?
Pfizer has developed this vaccine using mRNA technology. Unlike other vaccine candidates, mRNA vaccines are synthetically developed. This vaccine is coded to tell the cells to recreate the spike protein of the novel coronavirus. Vaccines developed using mRNA can be manufactured at a large scale.
Distribution:
Even after its launch, distribution is going to be a huge challenge. The main issue is that the vaccine, which is based on a novel technology that uses synthetic mRNA to activate the immune system against the virus, needs to be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius (-94 F) or below. Which is going to be a task for big hospital chains as well, let alone selling it through chemists across the country.
Right now the company needs to collect more safety data for approval.