A day after Pfizer, a US pharmaceutical company, announced 90 per cent effective coronavirus vaccine, Pakistan’s anti-coronavirus task force head Dr Attaur Rahman said that it was “too early to celebrate the success” for multiple reasons.
In a statement on Monday, Pfizer said that an early peek at the data suggested the shots may be a surprisingly robust 90% effective at preventing COVID-19. “We’re in a position potentially to be able to offer some hope,” Dr Bill Gruber, Pfizer’s senior vice president of clinical development, told The Associated Press. “We’re very encouraged.”
Reacting to the celebrations, Dr Rahman said the vaccine would not be suitable for Pakistan owing to multiple problems, especially the storage issue.
According to the task force chairman, the vaccine needs to be kept at a temperature of -80 °C, which was a major problem for third world countries, including Pakistan.
“We should not think much about this vaccine, instead focus on other vaccines that are being developed and have seen similar results but haven’t been announced with fanfare. They are working quietly,” said Dr Rahman.
It may be noted here that the number of coronavirus cases are soaring across Pakistan amid resurgence of the virus. On Monday, Pakistan registered over 1,500 infections and over a dozen deaths.
The government, as a result, has tighten restrictions to curb the infection rate.
PFIZER VACCINE:
Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top-infectious disease expert, said the results suggesting 90% effectiveness are “just extraordinary,” adding: “Not very many people expected it would be as high as that.”
“It’s going to have a major impact on everything we do with respect to COVID,” Fauci said.
Pharmaceutical companies and various countries are in a global race to develop a vaccine against the virus. Fauci said that the Pfizer vaccine and virtually all others in testing target the spike protein the coronavirus uses to infect cells, so the results validate that approach.
Monday’s announcement doesn’t mean a vaccine is imminent: This interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the US and five other countries. Some participants got the vaccine, while others got dummy shots.
Pfizer Inc. did not provide any more details about those infections and cautioned that the initial protection rate might change by the time the study ends. Even revealing such early data is highly unusual.
Authorities have stressed it’s unlikely any vaccine will arrive much before the end of the year, and initial supplies will be rationed.
