First of all, it's excellent news:
Pfizer Inc. said Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90% effective, based on early and incomplete test results that nevertheless brought a big burst of optimism to a world desperate for the means to finally bring the catastrophic outbreak under control.
The announcement came less than a week after an election seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s handling of the scourge, which has killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide, including almost a quarter-million in the United States alone.
“We’re in a position potentially to be able to offer some hope,” Dr. Bill Gruber, Pfizer’s senior vice president of clinical development, told The Associated Press. “We’re very encouraged.”
Pfizer, which is developing the vaccine with its German partner BioNTech, now is on track to apply later this month for emergency-use approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, once it has the necessary safety information in hand.
Even if all goes well, authorities have stressed it is unlikely any vaccine will arrive much before the end of the year, and the limited initial supplies will be rationed.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious-disease expert, said the results suggesting 90% effectiveness are “just extraordinary,” adding: “Not very many people expected it would be as high as that.”
Health care advisor to the British government Sir John Bell floats a wonderful scenario:
In comments that will come as a massive relief amid the coronavirus crisis, Sir John Bell said that other vaccines were now likely to become available in the near future. ‘I am really delighted with this result – it shows that you can make a vaccine against this little critter. 90% is an amazing level of efficacy,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s The World at One. Asked if people could look forward to a return to normal life by the spring, Sir John, who advises the government, replied: ‘Yes, yes, yes. I am probably the first guy to say that but I will say that with some confidence.
Cheerleading for the Very Stable Genius all the way to the bitter end, Vice President Pence tries to glom on to Pfizer's achievement:
Conversation
Mike Pence
@Mike_Pence
HUGE NEWS: Thanks to the public-private partnership forged by President
,
announced its Coronavirus Vaccine trial is EFFECTIVE, preventing infection in 90% of its volunteers.
Only problem: Pfizer wasn't part of Operation Warp Speed. The company developed the vaccine on its own:
“We were never part of the Warp Speed. We have never taken any money from the U.S. government, or from anyone,” Kathrin Jansen, the company’s vice president for vaccine research, told the Times.
Pfizer did ink a deal with the feds for large-scale production and nationwide delivery of 100 million doses once it had a vaccine, but that's a different critter.
On the other hand, New York governor Andrew Cuomo has to be a you-know-what about the news because - horror of horrors - the plan is for the private sector (gasp!) to handle the distribution. He also has to cast aspersions on the FDA and CDC just because it's still the Trump era:
“The good news is the Pfizer tests look good and we’ll have a vaccine shortly. The bad news is that it’s about two months before Joe Biden takes over and that means this administration is going to be implementing a vaccine plan,” Cuomo told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America. “The Trump Administration is rolling out the vaccination plan and I believe it’s flawed. I believe it learns nothing from the past.”
According to the governor, the administration’s plan will be ineffective because it will be implemented through the private sector.
“They’re going to take this vaccine and they’re going to go through the private mechanism. Through hospitals, through drug market chains, et cetera. That’s going to be slow and that’s going to bypass the communities that we call health care deserts,” Cuomo said. “If you don’t have a Rite Aid or a CVS then you’re in trouble and that’s what happened the first time with Covid.”
Cuomo has previously stated he would be skeptical of a vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration during Trump’s tenure.
“What I said I’m going to do in New York is we’re going to put together our own group of doctors and medical experts to review the vaccine and the efficacy and the protocol, and if they say it’s safe, I’ll go to the people of New York and I will say it’s safe with that credibility,” Cuomo said in mid-October. “But I believe, all across the country, you are going to need someone other than this FDA and this CDC saying it’s safe.”
Listen up, everybody: researchers at Pfizer and BioNtech came up with this vaccine. Knock off the vulgar attempts to make your tribe the hero of the story.
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