Although the clinical trials are not complete and there are still many questions to be answered, it is difficult not to be optimistic about Pfizer’s new COVID-19 vaccine.
If there was a single physician or scientist who predicted a 90% protection rate, he or she did an amazing job of keeping it secret. If the vaccine’s unexpected preliminary results hold up, we will have the possibility of making a serious dent in this terrible pandemic, which has thrown the world into chaos in less than one year.
Vaccines have been remarkably successful at eradicating deadly diseases such as smallpox, polio, and diphtheria. Other vaccines, especially for influenza, are far from perfect. Flu vaccines must be given annually and have a protection rate of only about 50%. This is due to resistance and new strains of flu arising every year, rendering the previous year’s vaccine ineffective. This is already occurring with COVID-19 as numerous strains of the virus that causes it have already been identified.
#Reprinted with permission from the Duluth News Tribune. The original editorial can be found here.
Josh Bloom
Dr. Jonathan (Josh) Bloom, ACSH's Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, earned his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania. During his 20-plus years in drug discovery at Wyeth, his research group discovered the antibiotic Tygacil®, approved in 2005. He holds 25 issued patents and has authored 35 academic papers. Since joining ACSH in 2010, he has written more than 2,000 articles and dozens of op-eds for major newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and Chicago Tribune.
