More jabs in store? Pfizer vaccine good for 6 months, makers say

The vaccine was 91.3% effective against Covid-19, measured seven days through up to six months after the second dose, they report.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc., developed together with German company BioNTech, is extremely effective for six months after the second dose, the companies said on Thursday.

The vaccine was 91.3% effective against Covid-19, measured seven days through up to six months after the second dose, they report.

“These data confirm the favorable efficacy and safety profile of our vaccine and position us to submit a Biologics License Application to the U.S. FDA,” said Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer.

The vaccine also proved effective against one of the more worrisome mutations. Data support previous studies that the vaccine induced a robust response to the B1.351 (South African) variant, the companies said.

“These data also 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,” said BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin.

Of the 927 confirmed symptomatic cases of Covid-19 in the trial, 850 were in a placebo group and 77 cases in a vaccine group, corresponding to vaccine efficacy of 91.3%, the firms report.

Efficacy was generally consistent across age, gender, race and ethnicity demographics, and across participants with a variety of underlying conditions, the companies said.

The announcement comes after Wednesday’s news that the Pfizer vaccine was found effective against children ages 12-15.

That Phase 3 trial involved 2,260 adolescents.

“We plan to submit these data to FDA as a proposed amendment to our Emergency Use Authorization in the coming weeks and to other regulators around the world, with the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year,” said Bourla.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine works by injecting mRNA molecules into the body with instructions to build spike proteins, which cells then produce and can then be recognized by the immune system.