Covid vaccine: Pfizer's announcement sparks hope but caution is in order
Pfizer has announced that its vaccine candidate is “90%” effective, raising much hope.
REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration / File Photo
Text by: RFI Follow
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Pfizer announced Monday that its vaccine candidate was "90%" effective against Covid-19.
An announcement that arouses a lot of hope around the world, but that must be taken with caution.
These are still only the results of preliminary analyzes and many questions remain unanswered.
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It is not yet clear whether the vaccine provides long-lasting immunity.
But the announcement immediately sparked a wave of hope and a surge in global stock markets, just ten months after the coronavirus was sequenced, a scientific feat.
Especially since another experimental vaccine, developed by the American company Moderna and whose results are expected in the coming weeks, uses the same new technology, based on messenger RNA.
And the world is also awaiting the results of another very advanced vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
"
This is good news
", welcomes Stéphane Paul, member of the Covid-19 vaccine committee of the Ministries of Health and Research, interviewed by
Olivier Chermann
, of the France pole of RFI.
He nevertheless calls for caution.
“
The limitation of all of this is that the results and the analysis that was done were after two months.
That is to say that today the only thing we can say is that this vaccine protects for two months 90% of the people who received it.
"Therefore, a question arises, believes Stéphane Paul:"
What is the safety of this type of vaccine in the long term?
And that is only the follow-up of patients that will allow us to know
.
"
The challenge of production
For Americans, who have pre-ordered 100 million doses, that means the first vaccinations could begin before the end of the year, provided safety is confirmed, by next week.
Pfizer then planned to submit an application for authorization to the United States Medicines Agency (FDA), which will have to decide whether the vaccine is safe and effective.
In the European Union, which has pre-purchased 200 million doses and is negotiating for 100 million others, the vaccine could be available "
early 2021
", according to a European source.
Other countries - Japan, Canada, United Kingdom - have also placed orders with Pfizer, and initial demand is sure to exceed supply, with Pfizer forecasting to be able to manufacture 50 million doses in 2020 and 1.3 billion l next year.
Unequal access to the vaccine?
NGOs have worried for months about the monopolization of doses by rich countries, as well as the price at which Pfizer will sell the vaccine.
"
The vaccine will be 0% effective for people who do not have the means to access or afford it
", responded Robin Guittard, spokesperson for Oxfam France.
The vast majority of vaccine capacity will already be reserved for a minority who can afford the vaccine and clearly not for the bulk of the population, especially populations who need it most.
This is why we are asking for global cooperation for the pooling of patents around vaccines to prevent a company from monopolizing production and marketing to the detriment of much wider access.
Robin Guittard, spokesperson for Oxfam France
Florence morice
"We are facing a very dark winter"
The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, found the announcement "
encouraging
".
US President Donald Trump hailed "
excellent news
", and the man who will replace him in the White House on January 20, Joe Biden, spoke of a sign of "
hope
", while warning that the "
battle
" was still far from being won.
“
T his vaccine, even if approved, will not be widely available for several months.
The challenges that lie ahead are always immense and increasing.
We are still facing a very dark winter.
Projections still indicate that we could lose an
additional
200,000 lives in the coming months, before a vaccine is widely distributed. So we cannot underestimate the important work that remains to be done by then for our country to go through the worst wave of the pandemic it is facing.
In the meantime, he implored the Americans to wear the mask "
the most powerful weapon against the virus
" and which is "
not a political posture
".
Statement by President-elect Biden on Pfizer's vaccine progress: pic.twitter.com/eOiLZnqO8N
Biden-Harris Presidential Transition (@ Transition46) November 9, 2020
♦
Pfizer, a juggernaut of pharmaceutical companies
Pfizer is known around the world for Viagra.
The blue, diamond-shaped pill sold in billions of copies to men with erectile dysfunction.
Marketed since 1998, Viagra was the flagship product of the American laboratory.
Until he lost his patent and the exclusivity of his production.
Pfizer is also today the manufacturer of the anxiety drug Xanax.
Anti-cholesterol Lipitor, anti-inflammatory Celebrex.
In short, the world number 2 in the pharmaceutical industry has strong backs.
Even if it has been left behind in recent years by its competitors Merck and Johnson and Johnson.
They invest more in research and development of new treatments.
Like other industry giants, AstraZeneca or Sinopharm, Pfizer has embarked on the vaccine race.
And invested $ 2 billion.
It announces ahead of its competitors.
The Trump administration has given more than 6 billion dollars to American laboratories, to develop the vaccine against the Covid.
Secretly hoping that it will be accessible to the general public before the November 3 election.
Coincidence or not, the conclusive results of Pfizer are communicated immediately after the announcement of the defeat of the president.
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