Pfizer concludes phase 3 study of COVID-19 vaccine candidate, says it's 95% effective
New York: Global drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech said on Wednesday their COVID-19 vaccine candidate is 95 percent effective, including in people over 65 years of age, a major announcement coming just two days after Moderna said its virus vaccine has an efficacy rate of 94.5 percent.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they have concluded phase 3 study of their mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2, meeting all primary efficacy endpoints. Based on current projections, the companies expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.
This week, leading biotechnology company Moderna said its COVID-19 vaccine had shown to be 94.5 percent effective. Earlier this month, Pfizer and Biontech had said their COVID-19 vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants.
Analysis of the data indicates a vaccine efficacy rate of 95 percent in participants without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (first primary objective) and also in participants with and without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (second primary objective), in each case measured from seven days after the second dose.
The company said the first primary objective analysis is based on 170 cases of COVID-19, of which 162 cases of coronavirus were observed in the placebo group while 8 cases in the BNT162b2 group.
Vaccine efficacy was consistent across age, gender, race, and ethnicity demographics. The observed efficacy in adults over 65 years of age was over 94 percent.
There were 10 severe cases of COVID-19 observed in the trial, with nine of the cases occurring in the placebo group and one in the BNT162b2 vaccinated group.
"The study results mark an important step in this historic eight-month journey to bring forward a vaccine capable of helping to end this devastating pandemic. We continue to move at the speed of science to compile all the data collected thus far and share with regulators around the world," said Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and CEO.
"With hundreds of thousands of people around the globe infected every day, we urgently need to get a safe and effective vaccine to the world," Bourla said.
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DU panel calls for removal of sexuality, caste, religion topics from psychology syllabus: Report
New Delhi: Delhi University’s Standing Committee on Academic Affairs has sparked controversy by sending the psychology department’s syllabus back for revisions, recommending the removal of topics such as sexual orientation, caste, religious identity, and the elective paper “Psychology of Sexuality.”
The move is part of DU’s broader curriculum overhaul in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) framework, as reported by Hindustan Times on Tuesday. The psychology department has been asked to reconsider its syllabus and submit a revised version following deliberations on the committee’s recommendations.
One of the committee's primary suggestions is to completely rewrite the elective paper titled “Psychology of Peace” to incorporate examples from Indian epics such as the Mahabharata.
The standing committee has also expressed objections to the inclusion of discussions on contemporary conflict zones like the Israel-Palestine issue, Kashmir, and India’s North-East. Instead, it suggested that students focus on teachings from the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita to understand concepts of peace and conflict resolution.
A person familiar with the standing committee’s recommendations said another paper, “Relationship Science,” has also been flagged for revision. “We’ve been asked to replace content on nuclear and alternative families with discussions of joint families, and to include more Indian family system literature. The section on dating apps and modern love must be re-examined,” HT quoted the person as saying.
A faculty member from the psychology department, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed concerns about the proposed changes, particularly the removal of topics related to discrimination and minority issues, noting, “We are being asked to eliminate topics on discrimination and minorities, even though these are pressing realities for many students and communities. How can psychology ignore negative experiences when it is fundamentally the study of human behaviour?”
Several faculty members have raised questions regarding the rationale behind the recommendations, and discussions are expected to continue in the upcoming academic council meeting scheduled for May 10.
