We Have A Vaccine!

Hope In A Bottle: The potential vaccine for Covid-19 has been reported to be 90 percent effective

- Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana

The news traveled thick and fast. The Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 works! Scientists were optimistic for months that a Covid-19 vaccine would be developed, but nothing was guaranteed. Proof that it would be efficacious was building up, with phase 1 and phase 2 trials giving way to phase 3 trials without much fanfare. In the context of vaccine development, this was a very good sign, as any major safety issues usually come out during these early phases.

Waiting with bated breath

Many infectious disease doctors and vaccinologists were waiting with bated breath. There had been tantalizing data about robust antibody responses among many of the vaccine candidates. The only thing left to prove was that it worked in a clinical setting. It did.

Very few things, however, are clear at this point. The initial press release had sparse details on efficacy, although more information was available afterward. The biggest question was whether it worked. The answer was a resounding yes, at least in terms of outcomes they defined. Out of the 94 cases of symptomatic Covid-19 that developed during the trial, 90 percent occurred in the placebo group. This means that the vaccine prevented clinically apparent Covid-19 disease among those who were inoculated.

The 90 percent efficacy is much better than expected, beating 50 to 70 percent efficacy predictions for first-generation vaccines. The trial has not been completed, but this interim analysis showed that the vaccine is doing what it is supposed to do.