Pfizer claims its vaccine is 95% effective and safe

(CNN) – A final analysis of Pfizer’s phase 3 coronavirus vaccine trial shows it was 95 percent effective at preventing infections, even in the elderly, and did not cause major safety concerns, the company said Wednesday.

The company counted 170 cases of coronavirus infection among the volunteers who participated in the trial. He said 162 infections occurred in people who received placebo or saline injections, while eight cases were in participants who received two doses of the actual vaccine. This translates into 95 percent efficiency, Pfizer said.

“Efficacy was consistent across age, race and ethnic demographics. The observed efficacy in adults over the age of 65 was over 94 percent,” Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said in a joint statement.

“There were 10 severe cases of COVID-19 seen in the study, nine of which occurred in the placebo group and one in the BNT162b2 vaccinated group.” BNT162b2 is the experimental name of the vaccine.

An independent group monitored the results and side effects. “To date, the Data Monitoring Committee for the study has not reported any serious safety concerns related to the vaccine,” the companies said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it wanted to see two months of safety data after half of the volunteers in any coronavirus vaccine trial had received injections.

“The only Grade 3 (severe) adverse event required greater than or equal to 2% in frequency after the first or second dose was fatigue at 3.7% after dose 2.” Older people tended to have fewer adverse events, and those who did were milder.

Pfizer said it will seek FDA emergency use clearance “in a few days”.

“This data will also be sent to other regulatory agencies around the world,” Pfizer said. He also plans to publish the data in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

“The rapid protection provided by this vaccine, combined with its tolerance profile across all age groups studied so far, should help make this vaccine an important tool in addressing the current pandemic,” said Dr Ugur Sahin, Director . director and co-founder of BioNTech.