The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has announced a vaccine for COVID-19 that is said to be over 90% effective. How fast the Federal Drug Administration can approve the vaccine will determine when it will become accessible. 

The Trump Administration said, “Roughly 20 million people could be vaccinated against the Coronavirus in December…Americans can expect that about 25 to 30 million people could be vaccinated each month afterward.” 

The vaccine is to be administered in multiple rounds, with effectiveness increasing after each dose. Protection from the virus is expected 28 days after the second dosage of medication. 

The race to find a vaccine for COVID-19, test it, and distribute it, has been in full effect all year. Health experts have speculated whether or not a vaccine would be available anytime soon, despite the Trump Administration’s claims that there will be one available soon.

More data explaining the specifics of the effectiveness and availability of the vaccine is said to be available within weeks. Moncef Slaoui, co-lead of Operation Warp Speed, has projected that it will take months to even vaccinate essential populations, including health care workers and the elderly. 

While Pfizer is the first company to make significant progress on their vaccine, it is projected that other vaccines from many other companies will be available in the near future. This is promising news, given the current rise of COVID-19 cases. In California, three counties have reverted back to the governor’s tiered system plan, with suspected future restrictions to follow in other parts of the state. The rate of infections in the state has nearly doubled since cases of COVID-19 began to increase in mid-October. 

Concerns involving the safety of the vaccine are prevalent, considering how quickly Pfizer was able to move the vaccine from the initial testing phases to being administered widely to Americans. Pfizer’s website addressed the concerns about potential health risks from the vaccine, saying, “The DMC has not reported any serious safety concerns and recommends that the study continue to collect additional safety data as planned. The data will be discussed with regulatory authorities worldwide.” 

Critics of the vaccine suggest there are still too many potential risk factors to vaccinate people at such a fast rate. They claim that we would not understand the effects of the vaccine on the human body until years have passed. 

The pool of participants for the testing of this vaccine was very diverse. This is increasingly important when we look at the statistics of which communities are being infected by the Coronavirus at the highest rates, which are racially and ethnically diverse populations. Pfizer disclosed that “…Approximately 42% of global participants and 30% of U.S. participants have racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds.” 

Trials will continue in the coming months, as effectiveness of the vaccine continues to be monitored.