What we still don’t know about COVID vaccines after the U.K.’s emergency-use authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech candidate - MarketWatch

government granted emergency-use authorization to the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc.

The initial batch is expected to comprise about 800,000 doses, enough to inoculate just half that number of people, as it’s a two-dose regimen.

But as German Health Minister Jens Spahn pointed out, the vaccine was jointly developed by a German company, using European Union funds, and a U.S.

The vaccine itself is still in Phase 3 trials, and participants in such trials are expected to be monitored for several years.

The COVID-19 pandemic has mobilized drug companies, biotechs and health agencies to act quickly to find vaccines and therapies, and new technologies are being deployed to speed up the process.

See now:AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine data fails to impress Wall Street analysts with its effectiveness in clinical trials.

Pfizer and BioNTech have not yet made the data from the late-stage trial fully available to the public but have said an analysis of early data found the vaccine to be 95% effective and to show signs of being safe.

None of the drug makers with vaccine candidates in the works has yet published clinical data for the vaccines’ performance in late-stage clinical trials in peer-reviewed medical journals, which is considered the gold standard when it comes to sharing medical research.

See now:BioNTech and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is surprisingly effective, though experts question what effectiveness will look like in the real world.

Paul Offit, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, said the news was “reassuring.”.

When regulators look at all the data, those below the tip of the iceberg, and conclude that this vaccine is what it appears to be, that is comforting,” he said.

The Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine candidate is one of three front runners currently working their way through trials.

is also developing an mRNA vaccine, and has said it generated a 94.5% efficacy rate in its late-stage trial

A third vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca PLC

 with Oxford University — a viral vector-based vaccine — recently produced some confusing results, with the vaccine appearing 62% effective when tested as originally planned but 90% effective when a manufacturing error lead to a reduced initial doze for some volunteers

10 to review the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine candidate and could also issue an emergency-use authorization

Moncef Slaoui, head of the government’s “Operation Warp Speed” program aimed at accelerating development of a safe and effective vaccine, told ABC News he expects the FDA to reach the same conclusion as its U.K

COVID-19 death toll tops 270,000 as CDC pushes ahead with plans for expected vaccine rollout