Pfizer vaccine to star in America’s historic Dec 10 science court

By Nikhila Natarajan New York, Dec 9 : Pfizers Covid-19 vaccine is edging closer to approval in the United States and will star in a historic ‘science court’ that will be live streamed to the world on December 10.
Starting 9 a.m. EST on December 10, US regulators and independent experts who make up the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will debate if clinical evidence is strong enough to recommend vaccinating Americans 16 years of age and older.
Earlier this week, in a 92 page document, the US Food and Drug Administration released a sunny evaluation of the vaccine, setting an upbeat tone ahead of what will be the biggest vaccination effort in the nation’s history. Most physicians are expecting to start getting shots in arms by December 15.
The Trump administration’s vaccine czar Moncef Slaoui said on Wednesday that all systems are locked and ready for an imminent emergency use approval.
Here are highlights that will inform the 12-hour long December 10 FDA meeting and what follows soon after: Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have reported their shots are 95 per cent effective at preventing mild to severe Covid-19 disease in a large, ongoing study. The efficacy results are based on 170 infections. Only eight of the infections were among volunteers who got the vaccine; the rest were among those who got dummy shots.