What the Pfizer vaccine news means (and doesn’t mean) for you
The news and stock markets have been abuzz with Pfizer’s announcement that it’s vaccine is 90% effective in its initial phase 3 clinical trials. This is huge news — the FDA was willing to accept vaccines with even 50% efficacy. It’s the first vaccine trial to show such tangible results, and may herald a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s nowhere near the end of the road however, for several reasons.
The results are not final. This is a big trial, with over 40,000 patients. No serious safety issues have been reported to date, but the trial has only been running for about 2 months. It seems very likely that the Pfizer vaccine prevents cases in the short run, but we still don’t know how long the immunity lasts and if it is effective in preventing disease (and death) in high risk populations, who often respond poorly to vaccines.
You can’t get it. Even if it is approved and produced as quickly as possible, it will take the next several months to produce enough vaccine to cover the population. And it not only needs to be produced, but also distributed. This is an enormous logistical challenge, especially for something that has to be transported at ultra-cold temperatures
It’s not clear that you want it (yet). The press release suggests that there are no major immediate side effects from this vaccine (which is good), but no-one has seen the complete data, and it’s still to early to know if there are longer-term safety issues. This mRNA vaccine is the first of its kind to be used in humans, so we are in uncharted territory here, and the vaccine hesitancy many Americans are feeling is not totally unreasonable.
So in summary:
- All the signs are positive, but it’s too early to say if this vaccine will be truly safe and effective at scale and over time
- Even if it works, it will be months before enough vaccine is produced, distributed and administered to see population level effects
- Don’t expect this (or any other vaccine) to change anything this winter, but by spring/summer 2021 there’s a good chance we will be feeling the difference
- This is still likely to be a tough winter — be prepared, be safe, and take care of each other
For more tools on self-care over this winter and onwards, see www.mdlifekit.com
