Optimism over vaccine, but realities remain

Pfizer’s announcement Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective is cause for optimism. But the results are preliminary. This is no time for complacency, especially given the holiday season is fast approaching.

According to the Associated Press, the push could begin as early as next month, when federal officials say the first vaccine may be authorized for emergency use and immediately deployed to high-risk groups, such as health care workers.

“The cavalry is coming,”

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He said he hopes shots will be available to all Americans in April, May and June

Still, Pfizer’s results have not been peer reviewed. Long-term safety and efficacy results have not been collected. Even under a bestcase scenario, the vaccine would be available to only about 15 to 20 million people by January, or roughly 5% of the U. S. population. And there are no guarantees that Bay Area residents would be among those first in line to be vaccinated.

California officials reported 7,212 COVID-19 cases Sunday, more than twice the 2,981 from two weeks ago. All nine Bay Area counties are experiencing an uptick in cases. Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody warned Monday that the county is drifting back toward the state’s more restrictive tiers. And she said that after a year of isolation and near- quarantine, “It’s possible we are experiencing pandemic fatigue.”

Hospitalizations numbers have risen up to 10 percent throughout the area. Solano County residents must continue to be vigilant, limit holiday gatherings, wash their hands frequently and stay physically distant and outdoors as much as possible.

It’s important to understand that numerous questions remain about how much protection Pfizer’s vaccine offers. The drug maker also acknowledges that it doesn’t know what age groups the vaccine does and does not protect nor for how long the vaccine would be effective.

The Food and Drug Administration has said that a vaccine must have a minimum of 50% efficacy in order to be approved. The FDA also requires that participants be followed for a minimum of two months before the agency would authorize a vaccine for emergency use, because that is when most of the serious side effects generally occur. Pfizer’s test won’t hit the two-month minimum until the third week of November. Pfizer intends to monitor the 44,000 participants in the trial for two years.

The drug maker developed the vaccine in conjunction with its German partner, BioNTech, without funding from the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed. But Pfizer made a deal with the U.S. government, saying that the drug maker would receive $1.95 billion if it can deliver 100 million doses of the vaccine to the American people free of charge. The federal government has not committed to a plan for who would be the first to be vaccinated. High-risk groups, such as hospital workers, first responders, senior citizens and those with serious medical conditions are likely to receive priority.

Pfizer hopes to ramp up production of a successful vaccine to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. One of the many challenges is that the vaccine reportedly needs to be kept at temperatures as low as minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit until it is ready to be injected into patients.

We can only hope that

Pfizer is able to overcome all of the obstacles and begin producing an effective vaccine in the near future. Until then, it behooves Solano County,

Bay Area and California residents to continue social distancing and mask wearing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.