Coronavirus Vaccine 90% Effective In Tests: Pfizer

PEARL RIVER, NY — Pfizer and BioNTech announced Monday their coronavirus vaccine was 90 percent effective in stage 3 trials, putting them on target to seek emergency approval from the U.S. Drug and Drug Administration by the end of November.

"Today is a great day for science and humanity," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. "We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said the results suggesting 90 percent effectiveness are “just extraordinary,” adding: “Not very many people expected it would be as high as that."

"It’s going to have a major impact on everything we do with respect to COVID,” Fauci said.

COVID-19 has killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide, including almost a quarter-million in the United States alone. Confirmed cases in the U.S. on Monday were expected to eclipse 10 million, the highest in the world.

A global race to develop a vaccine against the virus began in March. "This is not how it's normally done," Pfizer Vice President Phil Dormitzer said at the time.

Pfizer has a research site in Pearl River.

The announcement Monday does not mean a vaccine is imminent.

“We need to see the data, but this is extremely promising,” said Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, former chief of the FDA’s vaccine division. He ticked off many questions still to be answered, including how long the vaccine’s effects last and whether it protects older people as well as younger people.

Whenever any vaccine arrives, initial supplies will be scarce and rationed, with priority likely to be given to health care workers.

If regulatory approval is obtained, the companies plan to supply up to 100 million doses worldwide by the end of 2020 and approximately 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021, Pfizer officials said.

Global markets, already buoyed by the victory of President-elect Joe Biden, exploded on the news from Pfizer, the AP reported. Major markets in Europe, where infections have soared, were up 5 percent. In the U.S., the S&P 500 surged 3.7 percent after the opening bell, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 1,300 points.

President Donald Trump, who had suggested during the presidential campaign that a vaccine could be ready by Election Day, tweeted on Monday: “STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!”

The timing is likely to feed unsubstantiated suspicions from Trump supporters that the pharmaceutical industry was withholding the news until after the election. Donald Trump Jr. tweeted: “The timing of this is pretty amazing. Nothing nefarious about the timing of this at all right?”

The data monitoring committee has not reported any serious safety concerns. The clinical trial will continue.

"The data will be discussed with regulatory authorities worldwide," Bourla said. He warned that the final effectiveness could be below 90 percent.

Fauci said that the Pfizer vaccine and virtually all others in testing target the spike protein the coronavirus uses to infect cells, so the results validate that approach.

Pfizer's lab in Rockland County is the primary research and development center for the vaccine.

Pearl River has been home to pharmaceutical research since 1907, when Dr. Ernst Lederle established the lab which produced antiserum to treat children with diphtheria. Other medicines developed there include vaccines against diseases like smallpox and polio and potential breakthrough therapies for leukemia.

"This announcement is extremely promising for our country and the entire world, if the results hold up then the end of the coronavirus pandemic could be in sight," Rockland County Executive Ed Day said Monday. "In the meantime, please continue to social distance, wear masks if you can't, wash your hands and stay home if you're sick. We will get through this together.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

SEE ALSO:

• Pfizer Could Seek OK For COVID-19 Vaccine By October
• Pfizer, Partner Racing To Develop A Coronavirus Vaccine