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Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 shot 91% effective in updated data, protective against South African variant
By Carl O Donnell
Reuters
(Reuters) - Pfizer Inc and BioNTech said on Thursday their vaccine is around 91% effective at preventing COVID-19, citing updated trial data that included participants inoculated for up to six months.
The shot also showed early signs of preventing disease in a small subset of study volunteers in South Africa, where a concerning new variant called B.1.351 is circulating.
Although lower than the stunning 95% efficacy result reported from its 44,000-person clinical trial in November, overall efficacy of 91.3% shows the vaccine to be a powerful tool against an evolving virus. The virus now has more transmissible forms and those that have been shown to evade antibody protection in lab studies and real-world clinical trials.
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While the new overall efficacy rate of 91.3% is lower than the 95% originally reported in November for its 44 000-person trial, a number of variants have become more prevalent around the world since then.
Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said the updated results, which include data on more than 12 000 people fully inoculated for at least six months, positions the drugmakers to submit for full US regulatory approval.
NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Pfizer and BioNTech said on Thursday (April 1) their Covid-19 vaccine is around 91 per cent effective at preventing the disease, citing updated trial data that included participants inoculated for up to six months.
The shot was also 100 per cent effective in preventing illness among trial participants in South Africa, where a new variant called B1351 is dominant, although the number of those participants was relatively small at 800.
While the new overall efficacy rate of 91.3 per cent is lower than the 95 per cent originally reported in November for its 44,000-person trial, a number of variants have become more prevalent around the world since then.
The vaccine is currently authorized on an emergency basis by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The trial data provide the first clinical results that a vaccine can effectively protect against currently circulating variants, a critical factor to reach herd immunity and end this pandemic for the global population,â BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin said in a statement. Experts fear that new variants of COVID-19 from South Africa and Brazil could be resistant to existing vaccines and treatment. More than 300 cases of the South African variant have been detected in more than 25 U.S. states and jurisdictions, federal data shows.