HEALTH

Updates On Effects Of Pfizer-Biontech’s Vaccine

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Updates on the trial of Pfizer-Biontech vaccines<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a> reveals that the ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of Pfizer&sol;BioNTech&&num;8217&semi;s coronavirus vaccine confirms its protection lasts at least six months after the second dose&comma; the companies said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The question of how long vaccine protection lasts can only be answered once enough time has passed&comma; and while six months of protection is a modest target&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s longer than previously known&period; The study is continuing and future updates may reveal more about how long and how strong this protection is&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The vaccine remains more than 91&percnt; effective against disease with any symptoms for six months&comma; the companies said&period; And it appeared to be fully effective against the worrying B&period;1&period;351 variant of the virus&comma; which is the dominant strain circulating in South Africa and which researchers feared had evolved to evade the protection of vaccines&comma; the companies said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;The vaccine was 100&percnt; effective against severe disease as defined by the U&period;S&period; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention &lpar;CDC&rpar;&comma; and 95&period;3&percnt; effective against severe COVID-19 as defined by the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">U&period;S&period; Food and Drug Administration<&sol;a> &lpar;FDA&rpar;&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Pfizer and BioNTech said in a joint statement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On the updates <strong>on<&sol;strong> Wednesday&comma; the companies said a small trial of volunteers aged12 to 15 showed 100&percnt; efficacy in that age group&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;These data confirm the favorable efficacy and safety profile of our vaccine and position us to submit a Biologics License Application to the U&period;S&period; FDA&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Albert Bourla&comma; Pfizer&&num;8217&semi;s chairman and chief executive officer&comma; said in a statement&period; A BLA is an application for full approval&period; The vaccine currently has emergency use authorization&comma; EUA&comma; which falls short of full approval&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;The high vaccine efficacy observed through up to six months following a second dose and against the variant prevalent in South Africa provides further confidence in our vaccine&&num;8217&semi;s overall effectiveness&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The company has been studying the vaccine in more than 46&comma;000 volunteers and has noted 927 cases of confirmed Covid-19&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;From the 927 confirmed symptomatic cases of COVID-19 in the trial&comma; 850 cases of COVID-19 were in the placebo group and 77 cases were in the BNT162b2 group&comma; corresponding to vaccine efficacy of 91&period;3&percnt;&comma;&&num;8221&semi; it said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Thirty-two cases of severe disease&comma; as defined by the CDC&comma; were observed in the placebo group versus none in the BNT162b2 vaccinated group&comma; indicating that the vaccine was 100&percnt; efficacious in this analysis against severe disease by the CDC definition&period; Twenty-one cases&comma; as defined by the FDA&comma; were observed in the placebo group versus one case in the BNT162b2 vaccinated group&comma; indicating 95&period;3&percnt; efficacy by the FDA definition&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These definitions matter&period; The FDA&&num;8217&semi;s definition of severe disease included a raised respiratory rate indicating respiratory distress&semi; raised heart rate&comma; an oxygen saturation level of 93&percnt; or lower&semi; respiratory failure severe enough to need additional oxygen or ventilation&semi; a blood pressure drop indicating shock&semi; significant kidney&comma; liver or neurological dysfunction&comma; admission to an intensive care unit or death&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;CDC&&num;8217&semi;s definition includes a blood oxygen level of 94&percnt; or lower and an x-ray finding of lung infiltrates &&num;8212&semi; an indication of pneumonia &&num;8212&semi; of greater than 50&percnt;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The most common adverse events were pain at the injection site&comma; fatigue and headache&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;In South Africa&comma; where the B&period;1&period;351 lineage is prevalent and 800 participants were enrolled&comma; nine cases of COVID-19 were observed&comma; all in the placebo group&comma; indicating vaccine efficacy of 100&percnt;&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the company said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Vaccine safety has now been evaluated in more than 44&comma;000 participants aged 16 years and older with more than 12&comma;000 vaccinated participants having at least six months of follow-up after their second dose&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Meanwhile&comma; Pfizer Incorporated has projected about &dollar;15 billion in revenue this year from the Covid-19 vaccine it developed with BioNTech SE&comma; but the shares fell amid questions about the durability of the market for the shot&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Company officials led by Chief Executive Albert Bourla said on a conference call that the vaccine looks capable of taking on new variants&comma; its price may increase and new products using its messenger RNA technology are on the way&period; Still&comma; the shares fell as much as 4&period;3&percnt; and were down 2&period;2&percnt; at 2&colon;10 p&period;m Tuesday in New York&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The first of the Western coronavirus shots cleared for use&comma; the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;bloomberg&period;com&sol;">Pfizer-BioNTech<&sol;a> vaccine will soon face competition from more entrants&comma; including from Johnson &amp&semi; Johnson and Novavax Inc&period; that are poised for authorization&period; New virus variants may also require additional vaccines or reformulated booster shots for protection&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Openlife Reporter

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