Pfizer and BioNTech said that their testing in the final clinical trials for a vaccine against COVID-19 has been shown effective in the formation of immunity above 90% in seven days after the second dose. The company expects to start delivering vaccines at the end of December, to increase the volume by the third quarter of 2021.
On Monday, shares of Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) reached a new high in their prices for the last 52 weeks, an increase of 11.6% and 14.2% respectively in the course of trading (at the time of this writing).
News, previous growth was the announcement of the detection of the high efficacy of the vaccine against COVID-19, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as expectations of the imminent start of deliveries.
The final study vaccine “BNT162b1” among the 43 538 volunteers of different ages and races showed that the efficiency of formation of immunity seven days after the introduction of the second dose is higher than 90%. This means that employees will be protected from Covid-19 already 28 days after initial vaccination.
Chairman and chief Executive officer of Pfizer, Dr. albert Burla in an interview with CNBC said: “I think this is probably the most significant advances in medicine over the last 100 years, given the impact this will have on public health and the world economy”.
Major US stock indices reacted to the growth of news: in the course of trading, the Dow Jones rose to 4.93% in the S&P 500 by 3.3%, oil prices jumped by almost 9%, while the price of gold fell by 4.9% (at the time of this writing).
The shares of some airlines, cruise companies also jumped up to 20% -30%.
The final study of the vaccine on humans is not yet completed and BioNTech and Pfizer said they plan to publish final data from the study in the third week of November. After that, the company will be able to submit an application to FDA (Management on sanitary inspection behind quality of foodstuff and medicines of the USA) for emergency approval and the sale of its vaccine in an emergency situation with the pandemic.
The company has noted that have not found serious side effects in the application of its vaccine on humans.
Based on current forecasts, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to produce up to 50 million doses of vaccine in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
The company has already signed a government contracts for the supply of 100 million doses of vaccine from COVID-19 in the amount of $1.9 billion with the Ministry of health and social services and the Ministry of defense. Agreement Pfizer and BioNTech with the European Union provide for the delivery of up to 300 million doses of vaccine.
Scientists and medical experts have embraced the news of a 90% vaccine efficacy Pfizer / BioNTech, given that the White house adviser on coronavirus Dr. Anthony Fauci, said earlier that a vaccine with efficacy of 50% or 60% would be acceptable.
If the effectiveness of the vaccine “BNT162b1” will be confirmed in November, first, – this will be a record for the period of creating safe and effective vaccines, and secondly, – according to the Centers for control and prevention (CDC), the vaccine against coronavirus with over 90% efficiency will be approximately equal to one dose of measles vaccine, which gives about 93% efficiency. For comparison, the CDC States that an annual flu vaccine reduces risk of influenza from 40% to 60% among the whole population.
Vaccine COVID Pfizer and BioNTech requires super low temperatures
The downside of the vaccine, produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, can become more difficult conditions of its storage and transportation. While the candidate vaccine from the company Moderna (MRNA), for example, requires conditions in -15.56 °C, the vaccine “BNT162b1” must -34.44 °C. This will complicate and make more costly the storage and transportation of hundreds of millions of vaccines against coronavirus around the world. It is reported that the company plans to use special containers and transport them with distribution centers in Kalamzoo, Michigan, and Puurs, Belgium, using the two dozen trucks a day that will provide daily transportation for approximately 7.6 million doses to nearby airports.
Source:
Dailymail
