Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine 90% effective

General Science Discussion
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Great news, initial Phase 3 results from the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine show 90% efficacy. https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against

This is an amazing result, vaccines are rarely this effective. The vaccine should be available to health care workers at the beginning of 2021, or maybe even in December given the lack of serious side effects. This is the one that needs to be stored at -70C (-94F). The two doses are given three weeks apart.

Moderna likely will report similar results in the next three weeks.

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Very great, I hope soon would be 100%. So we will stay very well :smiley:

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Moderna reports COVID-19 vaccine 94.5% effective. “This first interim analysis was based on 95 cases, of which 90 cases of COVID-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 5 cases observed in the mRNA-1273 group, resulting in a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 94.5% (p <0.0001).”

Moderna announces longer shelf life for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate at refrigerated temperature. “Vaccine candidate now expected to remain stable at standard refrigerator temperatures of 2° to 8°C (36° to 46°F) for 30 days, up from previous estimate of 7 days. Shipping and long-term storage conditions at standard freezer temperatures of -20°C (-4°F) for 6 months.”

For anyone interested in the history of how messenger RNA became a ground-breaking biomedical technology — The story of mRNA: How a once-dismissed idea became a leading technology in the Covid vaccine race.

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So far, there is no reason to believe the current vaccines won’t be effective against the strain circulating in London. An explanation of the mutations: https://virological.org/t/preliminary-genomic-characterisation-of-an-emergent-sars-cov-2-lineage-in-the-uk-defined-by-a-novel-set-of-spike-mutations/563

Current info on the new strain: https://khub.net/documents/135939561/338928724/SARS-CoV-2+variant+under+investigation%2C+meeting+minutes.pdf/962e866b-161f-2fd5-1030-32b6ab467896?t=1608470511452

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yeah :+1: hope it works

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Pfizer submitted new stability data to the FDA today, reporting that recent tests show their vaccine can be stored safely for up to 2 weeks at standard medical freezer temperatures (-15°C): Pfizer and BioNTech Submit COVID-19 Vaccine Stability Data at Standard Freeze Temperature to the U.S. FDA | Pfizer. This eliminates the need for ultra cold storage at endpoint vaccination sites and will make distribution logistics a little easier.