The announcement “made him very happy”. By discovering the promising results of Pfizer, brandishing a vaccine 90% effective against Covid-19, Professor Jean-Michel Pawlotsky is enthusiastic. Even if, tempers this virologist and head of the biology pole of the Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil (Val-de-Marne), he will not be available immediately.
Does this ad surprise you?
JEAN-MICHEL PAWLOTSKY. Yes and no ! We knew that phase 3 was underway and that the labs would publish intermediate results. But we thought rather that they would be announced within two weeks. 40,000 participants, who could be infected like you and me, were gathered during this test. One group, drawn at random, received the vaccine, the other a placebo. No one knew who was getting what. It took a while for some to catch the virus. Then we have raised blind. This means that we looked at who, among the two groups, was the most contaminated. What we wanted to know is if the vaccine prevents catching Covid. And there, the results surprise me. 90% efficiency, this means that the participants who received the injection of serum are ten times less infected than the others. That’s a hell of a lot of good news! We can only take it with happiness.
Is this an achievement in such a short time?
I don’t know if that’s the term. One thing is certain: we did not know what rate of protection we could obtain. For a Covid vaccine to be declared effective, the labs have set a threshold between 50% and 60%. There we are well beyond. In addition, it only took six months to develop it, compared to the usual years. But let’s be careful. This protection is obtained after seven days after the second dose and it is not yet known if it will last.
Will this vaccine be available in the coming months?
There are still several steps. First, we must wait for the publication of the final results. Then the main thing is security. As Pfizer is American, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the drug agency of the United States, will have to look at the effectiveness and the tolerance of the vaccine. Be careful, this is not a simple glance but a complete analysis, in detail, of kilos of file. If the FDA gives the green light, then it will issue a marketing authorization.
Pfizer is hoping to get it this month, is that tenable?
In this exceptional pandemic, there are accelerated procedures. If the manufacturer is able to provide all the details of his test and the production and marketing conditions are met, it will go very quickly. The lab has already announced more than a billion doses for the end of 2021. But not everyone will be vaccinated tomorrow. There are still many steps. After the United States, the European agency will have to give its authorization, then it will be at the level of each country. Other questions will arise, such as manufacturing and availability, for whom? How? ‘Or’ What? A policy will have to be defined and the entire population will not be vaccinated at once.
Since the lab is American, will the United States be privileged?
It’s difficult to answer. The inventor remains European since it was the German BioNTech who developed it with Pfizer. The European Union has also announced that it will soon purchase up to 300 million doses. And we must also wait for other results of phase 3. Among them, the American Moderna or the British AstraZeneca with Oxford. We will therefore probably have several vaccines.
