eacute; tee made since in the EU, UK, USA and Canada. In its press release published on November 18, the American-German duo assured that its vaccine was 95% effective, without giving further details. Since then, a well-known medical journal in the United States, The New England Journal of Medicine, has published the full results of clinical trials and confirmed this figure, calling it a “triumph”.
Throughout the epidemic, several studies have shown that it drastically reduces the risk of developing severe forms, the last EPI-FLAGSHIP study carried out at the end of May by the National Agency for drug safety (ANSM) and the Health Insurance put forward the figure of 87% protection against severe forms for the over 75 years, people most prone to hospitalization.
Does the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine remain effective against mutant viruses, which spread in France ? The answer is yes, according to BioNTech. On January 8, the German company said in a statement that its product, developed with the American laboratory, “can neutralize” the variants detected in Great Britain and South Africa. “The antibodies of people who have received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine effectively neutralize SARS-CoV-2 with a key mutation that is also found in two highly transmissible strains,” the company said, according to AFP whose Le Figaro echoes.
Over 60, over 50… Who can receive the Pfizer vaccine ?
Since March 27, the vaccine from the American laboratory is injected only to people over 70 years of age. From April 16, all vaccination volunteers over the age of 60 will also be able to receive the product. The target eligible for vaccination with Pfizer will evolve along with the vaccination schedule.
However, people between the ages of 50 and 54 with comorbidities are eligible for vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech at the vaccination center. As for people suffering from pathologies leading to the risk of serious forms of the disease and between the ages of 18 and 54, they can also make an appointment to be vaccinated with the American product, upon presentation of a doctor’s prescription.
Composition of the Pfizer vaccine
The Food and Drug Administration (US drug agency) has published the list of components of the serum manufactured by the American-German duo. We find lipids, sugar, salt and water, all this accompanying the active principle of Messenger RNA, which aims to give the body the genetic information necessary to trigger protection against the virus. In more detail, Pfizer’s vaccine contains four types of salt (potassium chloride, sodium chloride, potassium phosphate monobasic, sodium dibasic phosphate dihydrate), responsible for balancing the pH of the preparation.
In which countries is Pfizer available?
France has been actively involved in the production of the Pfizer vaccine, since Friday, April 9, thanks to a site of the industrial Delpharm, mobilized to bottle the precious anti-covid liquid. Emmanuel Macron went to the plant in Eure-et-Loire, for the launch of the production of the vaccine. The President of the Republic recalled the government’s goal : to produce 250 million doses of vaccine against Covid-19 this year. “We will organize ourselves to, on our soil, develop the capacity to produce the very substance of messenger RNA,” he said, during this trip. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the first to be authorized on French soil. According to the National Agency for Drug safety (ANSM), 0.2% of vaccinated reported side effects. On BFMTV, this Friday, the director vaccines of Pfizer France, David Lepoittevin claimed that the serum maintained “a very high level of effectiveness” against the British, South African and Brazilian variants.
Europe accounts for half of Pfizer’s vaccine production, while the Twenty-Seven are accelerating vaccination on their territory. The American laboratory intends to sell up to 600 million doses in the United States, 120 million doses for Japan and 40 million for Great Britain. Other countries have placed orders with the U.S. laboratory, including China, Indonesia and Canada. For its part, the European Commission has ordered an additional 300 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. This reassortment brings the number of doses ordered for the European Union to 600 million. “We have now secured the purchase of enough doses to vaccinate 380 million Europeans, or 80% of the European population, and more vaccines will follow in the coming weeks and months,” Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the Commission, told a press conference, quoted by Le Monde.
The U.S. laboratory has partnered with the Biovac Institute in Cape Town, South Africa, to produce vaccines on site. The news is historic as it will be the first messenger RNA vaccine produced on the African continent. The laboratory aims to produce at least 100 million doses per year by 2023. Production should start as early as next year and it is already known that all doses produced in Africa will only be destined for African countries. This is a way for the continent to be less dependent on foreign countries even
