By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – A ‘game-changer’ is how one Central Illinois doctor describes Coronavirus vaccine trial announcements while cases are on the rise.
The announcement comes as drug makers Pfizer and BioNTech announced COVID-19 vaccines were “more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 among those without evidence of prior infection.”
OSF General Surgeon, Dr. John Wieland, told WJBC’s Scott Miller the Phase 3 vaccine trials show promising signs.
“This is really good news. I would call this a ‘game-changer’ for those that are in the depths of despair, thinking about recurring lockdowns. It doesn’t mean the virus is going to go away soon, but it means that help and hope are on the way based on their announcement…The Pfizer vaccine has proven effective in over 90% of patients or subjects that were treated. It’s a two-dose vaccine that the two doses are separated seven-days apart, so a week apart, and it takes 28-days after the second dose to achieve that level of immunity. Those results are very encouraging and very uplifting.
Pfizer said it would be applying for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as soon as data meets final milestones, which they expect to be early December.
“I would envision some type of mass distribution type of effort to or system to get as many of these vaccines to as many people in as quick of time frame as possible. That may not be at your doctor’s office; it may be through your local health department… it was actually mentioned that even our United States military might have something to do with distribution at some point. That remains to be seen, but I think the goal is to have as many people vaccinated in the shortest period of time.”
LISTEN: OSF General Surgeon Dr. John Wieland told WJBC’s Scott Miller that Pfizer COVID-19 Phase 3 trials are a ‘game-changer.’
The drug maker projects around 50 million doses would be available before years end and 1.2 billion doses before 2022.
On Monday morning, the Dow Jones Index surged 1,630 points on the news.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
