IANS | 20 Nov, 2020
Pfizer on Friday announced that it is moving ahead with its request of
asking the US regulators to allow emergency use of its Covid-19 vaccine,
which has shown 95 per cent efficacy in a totality of two data sets
released in the last 10 days.
Unless some nasty surprises turn
up, Pfizer's action on Friday could be the first step towards
vaccinating the most vulnerable Americans by December end.
Pfizer
and another US company, Moderna, have broken all vaccine development
speed records in their race for a cure over the last nine months.
US
regulators are standing by for the approval process while coronavirus
cases are surging to record levels across all the 50 states.
The
Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee in the US
Food and Drug Administration is a key player in how this process rolls
along.
Pfizer's submission also includes safety data on approximately 100 children aged 12-15 years.
"Our work to deliver a safe and effective vaccine has never been more urgent," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.
Pfizer
and BioNTech expect to produce a total of 50 million vaccine doses in
2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. US regulators hope to have 20
million vaccine doses each from Moderna and Pfizer available for
distribution in late December.
