Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Ready For Tests Next Week, Emergency Use By Fall

Biopharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. said on Tuesday that a new coronavirus vaccine could be ready for testing as early as next week and would be ready for emergency use in the fall.

According to the New York Post, the New York-based Pfizer worked with the German-based BioNTech to distribute the vaccine and the clinical trials on human volunteers for the drug have already started in Germany.

The Paul Ehrlich Institute in Germany gave the go signal for the human clinical trials on April 22 and according to Reuters, once the vaccine, named BNT162, gains the regulatory approval on testing for humans in the U.S., a clinical trial would also take place in the country.

The trials will enroll around 200 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 who will be “vaccinated with variants of the RNA” vaccine while a second phase of the testing will involve members of the COVID-19’s high risk population.

Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said that U.S. Health Regulators may approve the testing of the vaccine on humans by next week.

Bourla added that if the scheduled timeline would go as planned, results of the clinical trials would be released within a month and if the testing outcomes prove to be favorable, the vaccine might be distributed for emergency use by fall.

According to a Reuters article, Citi analyst Andrew Baum said that due to the company’s unchanged predictions, it “makes clear management confidence that they have enough gears to make its earnings guidance despite COVID-19.”

“This is a crisis right now, and a solution is desperately needed by all,” Bourla told the Wall Street Journal. “We are fully committed to confronting the public health challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic by collaborating with industry partners and academic institutions to develop potential approaches to prevent and treat COVID-19.”

Pfizer has invested $650 million to develop and to probably manufacture the vaccine and Bourla said they could only imagine the extremely high demand for the drug during the coronavirus pandemic.

However, a 2013 study that PLOS ONE published cited that there are slim chances of developing a successful vaccine, with only 6 per cent of them becoming available to the market after a series of strict testing.