The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for SARS-CoV-2

                                                                                                   Shutterstock

 As the vaccine roll-out increases world-wide, one of the strongest candidates is the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. A few facts assist with understanding the strength and value of this vaccine - 

• The Pfizer vaccine is designated as BNT162b2. 
• It is a lipid nanoparticle-formulated, nucleoside-modified RNA vaccine encoding a prefusion stabilized, membrane-anchored SARS-CoV-2 full-length spike protein.
• Pfizer's method has been not to follow a traditional vaccine method that uses inactive, dead or portions of the actual virus to create an immune response but rather utilise mRNA to instruct human cells to develop their own spike protein similar to one found on the surface of coronavirus particles. The result is that a generation of antibodies are generated specifically targetted to the SAR-CoV-2 spike protein.
• The clinical trial had 43,548 participants in a multinational, placebo-controlled, observer-blinded, pivotal efficacy trial.
• The vaccine was trialed with each participant receiving two doses, 21 days apart.
• BNT162b2 was 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 and the efficacy was the same across all subgroups: age, sex, race, ethnicity, baseline body-mass index and co-existing conditions.
• Side effects were short-term including mild-to-moderate pain at the injection site, fatigue and headache.
• Of note, the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine can be stored up to 5 days at standard refrigerator temperatures when ready for use. It is essential however for very cold temperatures for initial shipping and longer storage.

The clinical trial results, peer reviewed are published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) which can be located at this link: Pfizer COVID vaccine results

Pfizer have a simple description of the vaccine on their website: Pfizer: the facts about Pfizer and BioNTechs COVID 19 vaccine