PFIZER-BIONTECH VACCINE NO CURE-ALL FOR COVID ILLS: ANALYST

The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has raised hopes for the end of the pandemic after the interim result of trials showed 90 percent effectiveness, but questions remain about safety, distribution and its precise effect on the virus, John Power wrote for the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Before the vaccine is approved for use by health authorities around the world, it will have to meet certain safety requirements that vary by jurisdiction. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is requiring manufacturers to produce safety data on half of subjects for two months after their second dose of the vaccine before it can be approved for emergency use.

Distribution poses a major challenge due to the particular storage requirements of the vaccine, particularly in lower-income countries with less developed infrastructure. Unlike most vaccines which can be stored in a normal refrigerator, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine must be kept at -80 degrees Celsius. Freezers capable of maintaining such temperatures are uncommon even at major hospitals in developed countries. Pfizer has said it plans to use dry ice to transport the vaccine by land and air to distribution centres around the world, a daunting logistical feat.

“Are there sufficient ultra-low [temperature] refrigerators at vaccination sites?” asked John Siu Lun Tam, a vaccination expert at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “How would we know if the ‘ultra-low cold chain’ had been kept and that the vaccine you get is not inactivated? “The complete vaccinations process requires two injections,” Tam said. “There will be a logistics issue about how to make sure people actually get two doses.” A big unknown remains the vaccine’s effectiveness in stopping transmission of the virus. While the Pfizer/BioNTech candidate has shown major promise in preventing sickness, there is as yet little indication it is effective at stopping the spread of infection among people.