President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on November 10 had a phone call with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel during which he asked the German leader to assist in supplying a U.S.-German-developed COVID-19 vaccine to Ukraine.
"We welcome the breakthrough achieved by the German company BioNTech together with the American company Pfizer in the development of a coronavirus vaccine. This is very encouraging news. I would like to ask for your assistance in taking into account the interests of Ukraine when planning the supply of COVID-19 vaccine," Zelensky said, according to the press service of the Ukrainian President's Office.
The parties agreed to further coordinate efforts to overcome the impact of the pandemic.
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Pfizer vaccine
- The product developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is 90% effective, the producer says. The Phase 3 clinical trial of BNT162b2 began on July 27 and has enrolled 43,538 participants to date, 38,955 of whom have received a second dose of the vaccine candidate as of November 8, 2020.
- Approximately 42% of global participants and 30% of U.S. participants have racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. The trial is continuing to enroll and is expected to continue through the final analysis when a total of 164 confirmed COVID-19 cases have accrued.
- After discussion with the FDA, the companies recently elected to drop the 32-case interim analysis and conduct the first interim analysis at a minimum of 62 cases. Upon the conclusion of those discussions, the evaluable case count reached 94 and the Data Monitoring Committee performed its first analysis on all cases. The case split between vaccinated individuals and those who received the placebo indicates a vaccine efficacy rate above 90%, at seven days after the second dose.
- Pfizer says there are no serious side effects. If key indicators are safe, the world may have a tool to tackle the pandemic in a week.
- The European Commission has already agreed to sign an agreement with the developers on the purchase of 300 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
