HOUSTON – (Nov. 10, 2020) – As coronavirus cases surge in the United States and elsewhere, the world got good news Monday when Pfizer and its partner, the German company BioNTech, announced preliminary trial results that suggest their vaccine is more than 90% effective.
Pfizer is one of six companies to receive funding from the U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed. The goal of the program is to have a vaccine by January. "If we can make it will depend on how fast the FDA approves a vaccine for emergency use authorization," said Kirstin Matthews, fellow in science and technology policy at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. While the Pfizer/BioNTech partnership received funding from Operation Warp Speed, it was for manufacturing alone, not research and development.
"The vaccine isn’t really approved with the same level of rigor as a traditional vaccine, but the data from the first few months indicates that it is safe and works against SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 virus," said Matthews, who is available to discuss vaccine developments with the news media.
"Pfizer was the first to start reporting results of the phase 3 trial, but it will be late November before results will be completed," Matthews said. "In addition, Moderna finished their phase 3 trial a few weeks ago, and Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are also in the middle of phase 3 trials. Operations Warp Speed is also supporting two other vaccines from Novavax and GSK (GlaxoSmithKline)/Sanofi, which are finishing phase 2 trials.”
"All of this work is extremely promising. This timeline is significantly faster than any other vaccine in history. If one or more of these vaccines is successful, then doses of the vaccines will begin rolling out in the U.S., starting first with essential health care workers and those who have the highest risks."
Matthews and Rekha Lakshmanan, a contributing expert for the Baker Institute's Center for Health and Biosciences, created a three-page document to provide an accessible overview of Operation Warp Speed and the six potential COVID-19 vaccines that are under development.
Matthews said “one of the first projects for the Biden administration and its COVID-19 task force will be determining how the vaccine will be distributed: who will get it first and who will have to wait.”
"Biden’s team will also have to repair public trust issues as many Americans found the process politicized and are unsure if they will take a COVID-19 vaccine when it’s first available," Matthews said. "In addition, several groups have announced they want to check the vaccine before approving it for their constituents, including California, New York and the National Medical Association (an association of Black physicians)."
For more information or to schedule an interview with Matthews, contact Jeff Falk, director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.
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Founded in 1993, Rice University’s Baker Institute ranks as the No. 2 university-affiliated think tank in the world and the No. 1 energy think tank in the world. As a premier nonpartisan think tank, the institute conducts research on domestic and foreign policy issues with the goal of bridging the gap between the theory and practice of public policy. The institute’s strong track record of achievement reflects the work of its endowed fellows, Rice University faculty scholars and staff, coupled with its outreach to the Rice student body through fellow-taught classes — including a public policy course — and student leadership and internship programs. Learn more about the institute at www.bakerinstitute.org or on the institute’s blog, http://blog.bakerinstitute.org.