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Pfizer CEO 'not certain' if coronavirus vaccine will prevent transmission

WION Web Team
London, United KingdomUpdated: Dec 04, 2020, 05:10 PM IST
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Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla Photograph:(Reuters)

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Bourla’s response was one of the highlights before the special was released before special, just days after the UK became the world’s first country to give formal authorisation to Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine for mass rollout

Pfizer Inc's CEO Albert Bourla has said that the company is "not certain" if those who receive its vaccine will be able to transmit the coronavirus to others, just one day after the UK became the first to approve the inoculation.

In an ongoing meeting with NBC, when Bourla was asked by the host in the event that he will have the option to send the contamination to others on the off chance that he is inoculated, Pfizer CEO answered that "it should be analysed".

“Even though I’ve had the protection, am I still able to transmit it to other people?” NBC’s Lester Holt asked in an interview on Thursday night, prompting a startling response from Bourla:

''I think this is something that needs to be examined. We are not certain about that right now.'' said Albert Bourla.

Bourla’s response was one of the highlights before the special was released before special, just days after the UK became the world’s first country to give formal authorisation to Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine for mass rollout. 

Britain approved Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the rest of the world in the race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history.

Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted emergency use approval to the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German biotechnology partner BioNTech, which they say is 95% effective in preventing illness, just 23 days after Pfizer published the first data from its final stage clinical trial.

After Pfizer's claim that the COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective based on initial trial results, a few volunteers said that they suffered side effects comparable to a flu jab, with one comparing them to "a severe hangover".

One of the volunteers of the trial, Texas lobbyist Glenn Deshields compared side effects of the shot as being similar to "a severe hangover" whereas another one, 45-year old Carrie said that she went through fever, body aches and headache after the second shot. 

Carrie also said that signing up for the trial was a “civic duty” and said Monday’s positive news left her feeling “very proud”.She said that 'There are so many people who have had it and suffered.'She had received her first shot back in September and her second last month.

Top US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci suggested the British regulators had failed to scrutinise the data carefully enough and had waved the vaccine through - comments that were prominently reported on the main British TV news channels.

England has purportedly effectively put in a request of 40 million dosages of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 antibody to give the twofold portion vaccination to in any event 20 million individuals. 

The CEO of MHRA, June Raine repeated that the "main" need on vaccination is the wellbeing of the residents. The Medicines and Healthcare items Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on December 2 guaranteed that the mRNA-based immunization is 95 percent compelling "regardless old enough, sex or race". 

In the news preparation, it was additionally educated that the MHRA is working "hard" to convey the inoculation to all individuals beginning from the ones most weak individuals. MHRA said that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 antibody is like different immunizations that are created over the world "and the results are low" with no particular safety measures or tests needed before vaccination. Raine communicated trust in the endorsement and guaranteed that the wellbeing of the antibody has been investigated with 'no stone being left unturned'.