Pfizer and BioNTech have raised hopes for the end of the pandemic…
Preliminary findings have shown that a vaccine against the Coronavirus developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is more than 90% effective. Pfizer and BioNTech were the first to share data from their testing’s final stage. Reaching the final stage is crucial because many experimental vaccines will fail in the early testing stages. The process that Pfizer and BioNTech used involved injecting part of the genetic code of the virus into people. This injection was meant to train the immune system on how to fight off the virus. Approximately 43,000 people were injected and there have yet to be any safety issues with the experimental vaccine.
When will the vaccine be available?
Pfizer believes that the Coronavirus vaccine will be available in the U.S. for the first 50 million doses by the end of 2020. The United Kingdom should get their first 10 million doses by the end of this year. An estimated 1.3 billion Coronavirus vaccine doses will be available by the end of next year.
Israel has also began vaccine trials…
Israel started Coronavirus vaccine trials on Sunday, as the authorities recently loosened a second lockdown. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has told reporters that they can see “the light at the end of the tunnel.” Israel’s Prime Minister tasked the Israel Institute for Biological Research IIBR with developing a Coronavirus vaccine. Two volunteers received vaccines on Sunday. Israel plans to test its Coronavirus vaccine on 80 people. The trial will then be extended to 980, and then 25,000 in its final stage.
The Coronavirus vaccine trial in Israel is one of 40 vaccine trials being tested worldwide.
Other leading Coronavirus trials are being conducted by:
- Moderna in the US
- Janssen
- Sinovac and Instituto Butantan in Brazil
- Novavax in the US
- Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and Sinopharm in China
- CanSino with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology in China
Stay tuned for more updates!