[News] Pfizer says early data signals COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

This might be discussed elsewhere, but how will things work in terms of the numbers and types of vaccines? Obviously a 90% effective rate puts Pfizer in the lead. Will we all (i.e Canada wide) be able to get the Pfizer vaccine? Will there be a run on their product?

All we know so far is that Pfizer has a better PR/Marketing department than the competition. Other companies could have a 91% effective rate but not want to say anything until later in their trials.... or be farther behind... or be worse... I for one just plain don’t know. I hope that people don’t put all the eggs in the blue pill company basket.

[ernie]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Third quarter of 2021?

Sorry I don't throw the term "Q3" around with my buddies a lot.

Yes third quarter. In my defense I was finalizing some Q4 forecast data this morning and was locked in on the shorthand....

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

I have a hard time believing everyone can’t wait to get this vaccine like the posters in this thread lead you to believe. I’d love to know what percentage of the population are actually willing to get the covid vaccine? For the regular annual flu doesn’t like 50% of the population get it? Of that 50% maybe a portion of those might get a covid vaccine.

My wife and her mother are both "I don't need the flu vaccine because I never get the flu" types (they are okay with other vaccines), but I convinced both of them finally this year. It only took a virus that, if combined with seasonal flu, is basically a one-way ticket to a dirt nap, but they are finally going to start getting their flu shots.

[Weitz]

I'll probably hold off on getting the vaccine as I imagine it will be in limited supply to start and I am sure there are others in more pressing need to get it than me. If there is a ton of supply I don't see an issue.

Of course thats assuming its just rolled out to everyone.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I'll probably hold off on getting the vaccine as I imagine it will be in limited supply to start and I am sure there are others in more pressing need to get it than me. If there is a ton of supply I don't see an issue.

Of course thats assuming its just rolled out to everyone.

Almost surely it will be staggered out. First responders and frontline workers of that nature will be amongst the first along with the vulnerable populations. Then it will gradually become available for the rest of us.

[Buff]

Something I've never seen discussed, or at least an answer to, nor have I sought one out, but... What if a person unknowingly had COVID-19 and then got the vaccine? Is their negative effects?

I'm diabetic, my wife is front line worker and my kids are all school aged and bring home al sorts of colds and flus each year. I think I'd like to be vaccinated.

However, I wonder if I already had it in January after a co-worker went to Asia for a month and came back terribly sick and it spread throughout the office and our households. It could have been something else, but there's a couple other little hints that suggest maybe it was covid.

So is it worth getting vaccine?

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Buff

Something I've never seen discussed, or at least an answer to, nor have I sought one out, but... What if a person unknowingly had COVID-19 and then got the vaccine? Is their negative effects?

I'm diabetic, my wife is front line worker and my kids are all school aged and bring home al sorts of colds and flus each year. I think I'd like to be vaccinated.

However, I wonder if I already had it in January after a co-worker went to Asia for a month and came back terribly sick and it spread throughout the office and our households. It could have been something else, but there's a couple other little hints that suggest maybe it was covid.

So is it worth getting vaccine?

You become a Republican and an Oilers fan.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I'll probably hold off on getting the vaccine as I imagine it will be in limited supply to start and I am sure there are others in more pressing need to get it than me. If there is a ton of supply I don't see an issue.

Of course thats assuming its just rolled out to everyone.

It won't be rolled for everyone for a while. It also takes 2 boosters/person. The initial run will only be enough for 25 million doses.

It likely won't be available to younger healthy people until near the end of 2021.

[timun]

There are no deleterious effects from being vaccinated against something you already had. Given you can't be sure you actually had COVID you might as well play it safe and get the vaccine. Similarly I was sick in January and I have suspected for months now that it may have been COVID—and I still have a cough, nine months later—but there's no way to be sure. I'll gladly take the vaccine.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by calculoso

All we know so far is that Pfizer has a better PR/Marketing department than the competition. Other companies could have a 91% effective rate but not want to say anything until later in their trials.... or be farther behind... or be worse... I for one just plain don’t know. I hope that people don’t put all the eggs in the blue pill company basket.

It's not really a PR thing. All of these phase 3 studies have pre-set benchmarks at which point they unblind the data to get a readout to judge efficacy. Essentially they set several interim analyses at different levels of positive cases among their trial participants. Once they hit those benchmarks, they check to see which of the cases got the vaccine and which got the placebo. Pfizer just happened to hit that first, likely due to their early start and large sample size.

Pfizer initially set their first analysis at 32 infections, but the FDA rejected that for being too small so they negotiated to adjust it to 62 infections. However, while those negotiations were happening, the # of infections in the trial participants grew rapidly and they ended up with 94 cases (with nearly all of those occurring in the placebo arm). Moderna's first readout is at 53 infections and Oxford/AstraZeneca set their at 75 infections, so I wouldn't be surprised if we get readouts from those in the near future too.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by blankall

It won't be rolled for everyone for a while. It also takes 2 boosters/person. The initial run will only be enough for 25 million doses.

It likely won't be available to younger healthy people until near the end of 2021.

True, but this one being effective likely means that the others will be too, at least to some degree. Given the progress in the studies, there's no reason that all of Pfizer, Moderna, Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson couldn't be producing vaccines for wide scale distribution in early 2021.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by opendoor

True, but this one being effective likely means that the others will be too, at least to some degree. Given the progress in the studies, there's no reason that all of Pfizer, Moderna, Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson couldn't be producing vaccines for wide scale distribution in early 2021.

Couldn't the Defense Production Act be used to increase the production of any of these vaccines?

That way you wouldn't be limited to one company's manufacturing capacity.

[FlameOn]

Apparently the Pfizer vaccine is extremely unusual because it has to be stored at -70c. That is going to cause some logistics and distribution issues

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN27P2VI

Sent from my HD1910 using Tapatalk

[blankall]

Originally Posted by opendoor

True, but this one being effective likely means that the others will be too, at least to some degree. Given the progress in the studies, there's no reason that all of Pfizer, Moderna, Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson couldn't be producing vaccines for wide scale distribution in early 2021.

If anything, having a truly effective vaccine is likely to make less effective vaccines less appealing and less likely to get approval.

Honestly, my biggest worry with this thing has always been infecting someone in a vulnerable group and feeling responsible for their death. If vulnerable people can get protected, it will ease my mind a lot. I'm not going to go nuts as soon as the vaccine hits the streets, but I'll certainly feel a lot more at ease.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Thor

What about the autisms

Originally Posted by nfotiu

This kind of comment is so counter productive. The correct argument for childhood vaccines should be that they have been around for years, have been proven to be extremely safe, and the risk of the disease is orders of magnitudes worse than the possible risks of the vaccines.

It shouldn't be that it is ridiculous that a vaccine could ever have dangerous risks. There should be a healthy dose of skepticism for the safety of a vaccine developed with the political and economic pressure associated with it.

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

I think it was a joke.

Both things can be true.

If your trying to refute BS, try not to accidentally spread it.

(I thought the joke was funny, but we do need to be careful about just how stupid people can been when they want to believe something).

[IGGYFORMVP]

Anyone happen to know what companies make ultra cold freezers for healthcare?

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Knut

Canada ordered 20 Million doses. So if all the order is fulfilled there will be 10 Million people able to get vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine. The question is how many are delivered in Q1 of 2021 to Canada.

You can expect a few others, Astra Zeneca, Moderna and J&J to come out with approvals in the next 3-6 months as well.

Pfizer's annual manufacturing capacity is 15-20M doses total so the PM saying that we ordered 20M doses is a bit ... hilarious. We probably won't be getting much of that first batch except for essential personnel.

The AZ vaccine is the one to watch, but that's the want where we are fourth down on the waiting list? So again, due to unsurprising issues with Canadian procurement, we will all have to wait awhile to get this vaccine - certainly behind the Americans and Brits. That said, AZ is already producing their vaccine candidate and should have hundreds of millions ready to go in January.

Posting this again. Read it and see how far behind Canada is in the vaccine game. We've chosen to support bungling national firms, instead of going with the big companies.

https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/how-...ccine-endgame/

[peter12]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Couldn't the Defense Production Act be used to increase the production of any of these vaccines?

That way you wouldn't be limited to one company's manufacturing capacity.

We haven't signed any licensing agreements (to my knowledge), unlike the Aussies and Japanese. In typical Canadian fashion, we bungled this.

[lazypucker]

Lots of discussions here, but how would I know if the vaccine is as effective as Pfizer claims? Is this something you get and then you immediately become invincible and you can start breathing in each other's face now?

I remain skeptical until the actual COVID cases starting to decline/disappear. So probably this will last another 2 years...

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by IGGYFORMVP

Anyone happen to know what companies make ultra cold freezers for healthcare?

Wouldn't dry ice work?