Covid-19 vaccine candidate is 90% effective, says manufacturer https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/09/covid-19-vaccine-candidate-effective-pfizer-biontech

So what do the outstanding Pfizer BioNTech results mean? Unexpected really good news, 90% is better than most people expected. But plenty to learn. This is clinical efficacy, but we do not know about preventing severe disease. 1/6

We do not know about prevention of infection. We do not about reduction of transmission. We do not know how long protection will last. There is a lot to learn from data that will emerge from the 38K volunteers who have received 2 doses. 2/6

Safety data, 2 months of follow up for median recruited volunteers are expected next week--but for the originally planned 30K, not the final size. Will allow for submission to FDA. 3/6

This RNA vaccine needs ultracold storage. Not sure of BioNTech price, but Moderna is 37$ a dose. Which makes these vaccines a stretch for less resourced countries that will find them hard to deliver and expensive. 4/6

Vaccines work better early in testing, so we will need to wait and see what the final efficacy is. The study was designed for a point estimate above 60%, but is likely to be way over given how quickly cases may accumulate. 5/6

There are two age strata, so we will wait to see whether there is a difference by age. And then in children younger than 16. Briefly, good news, lots to learn. 6/6