U.S. President Trump’s Pledge Of COVID-19 Vaccine Realized

By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s pledge of introducing a vaccine against the coronavirus within “just a short few weeks” came to a step closer Monday as two drugmakers said their experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90 percent effective.

U.S.-based Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech SE are the first drugmakers to release successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine.

The companies said they so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek U.S. authorization this month for the vaccine’s emergency use.

Their interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that included nearly 44,000 people in the U.S. and five other countries. Immunity was due to last for up to a year, developers said.

If granted, the companies estimate they can roll out up to 50 million doses this year to protect 25 million people and produce up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

“Today is a great day for science and humanity,” said Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla, noting the data milestone comes with “infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen.”

The announcement of the U.S. backed vaccine came shortly after contested presidential election results declared Democratic nominee Joe Biden president-elect.

President Trump had accused the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of delaying a vaccine to hurt his chances in the November 3 vote.

Trump reiterated in the final presidential debate against Democratic challenger Biden that a vaccine would be available soon. “We’re rounding the turn. We’re rounding the corner. It’s going away. We have a vaccine that’s coming, it’s ready, it’s going to be announced within weeks,” Trump said in Nashville on October 22.

It was not immediately clear what role the presidential election played in Monday’s announcement. And experts cautioned they wanted to see the full trial data of the vaccine but said the preliminary results looked encouraging.

In a move expected to raise eyebrows among faith leaders, the New York State Bar Association over the weekend already urged the state to consider making it mandatory for all New Yorkers to undergo COVID-19 vaccination.

Saturday’s resolution, obtained by Worthy News, does not make exceptions for people who object to the vaccine for religious, philosophical, or personal reasons.

Yet, the prospect of a COVID-19 vaccine electrified world markets with the indexes S&P 500 and Dow Jones rising to new records.

Pfizer shares jumped more than 8 percent to their highest since July last year, while BioNTech’s stock hit a record high.

(With additional reporting by Worthy News Founder George Whitten)

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