Covid: four questions on Pfizer and Biontech's "90% effective" vaccine candidate

DECRYPTION

Finally a solution against the coronavirus?

Pfizer and Biontech laboratories announced Monday that their candidate vaccine against Covid-19 is "90% effective".

As the second wave of the pandemic sweeps across much of the world, with more than 50 million officially recorded cases in total, including more than 12 million in Europe, this announcement was deemed "encouraging" by the WHO.

The vaccine is currently in "phase 3", that is to say at the gates of the request for approval essential before any marketing.

Europe 1 takes stock of this vaccine candidate which gives some hope of regaining a life without coronavirus. 

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Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Monday, November 9

How is the efficacy of the vaccine candidate established? 

The "vaccine efficacy" of the product developed by Pfizer and Biontech laboratories was measured by comparing a group of people who had received the vaccine and another who received a placebo.

The researchers then compared which group was the best protected from the coronavirus, 28 days after the first injection and 7 days after the second.

Still intermediate, these results are however very encouraging: not only is the vaccine shown to be effective against Covid-19, but it also does not seem to cause any notable side effects.

These human tests, phase 3, began at the end of July on more than 40,000 patients.

When can we expect commercialization? 

Before the commercialization stage, this promising vaccine candidate must be licensed.

The Pfizer and Biontechs laboratories intend to request the precious sesame urgently from the American health authorities, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at the end of phase 3. That is to say, the third week of November.

They estimate that the three necessary criteria (effectiveness, absence of health risk, capacity to produce on a large scale) will be fulfilled by the end of the month.

If approved by the authorities, the vaccine could be available in late 2020-early 2021.

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How many doses can be produced? 

As noted by

the Pfizer laboratory estimates that it will be able to produce 1.3 billion doses of its vaccine in 2021. Two doses of the vaccine being required per patient, so 650 million people can be immunized on next year.

But by then, the laboratories think they can provide, on the basis of projections, 50 million doses by the end of 2020.

Can everyone benefit from the vaccine? 

It's a safe bet that priorities will be established by the various governments in the distribution of the vaccine.

Caregivers, on the front line since in contact with patients, should therefore logically be the first to benefit.

The fact remains that not all French people will be vaccinated next January.

Because this vaccine candidate must absolutely be stored at -80 degrees Celsius.

A temperature which requires very important logistics, since it requires special freezers which are very expensive and which do not equip all hospitals in France, nor all laboratories.