Trudeau says promising new Pfizer vaccine could be 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today thatPfizer's promisingCOVID-19 vaccine trialis an "encouraging" development and could be the first step toward restoring Canada's social and economic life.

If all goes well, he said,thePfizer vaccineshould be available to Canadians sometimeover the first three months of 2021.

"We see the light at the end of the tunnel," Trudeau told a COVID-19 briefing with reporters today. "We are hopeful we are getting there because our scientists are working incredibly hard."

U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said today an early analysis of its novel coronavirus vaccine trial suggested the vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective in preventing the disease among trial participants who had no evidence of prior coronavirus infection.

Dr. Anthony Fauci,the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, calledthe trial results "extraordinary" and saidPfizer's success bodes well for a similar vaccine being developedby U.S.firm Moderna.

"Today is a great day for science and humanity," said Dr. Albert Bourla,chairman and CEO of Pfizer.

Canada alreadyhas placed orders with Pfizerand its German partner BioNTechfor 20 million doses of the two-dose vaccine so that it can be deployed here as soon as the company gets the necessary regulatory approvals from Health Canada.

Pfizer has been submitting trial data to the regulator on a rolling basis since October 9.The rolling review allows drugmakers to bypass the lengthy timelines they normally face when launching a new product. The vaccine will be approved for use once Health Canada is sure of its safety, efficacy and quality.

Trudeau said thatwhile Pfizer's results are promising, Canadians must continue to adhere to public health guidelines to keep caseloads manageable.

"It's really important we double down on our efforts," he said. "We need to make sure we are controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the coming months so that when vaccines get here, we will be able to act quickly to protect all Canadians."

WATCH: Trudeau discusses Pfizer's promising COVID-19 vaccine

Trudeau discusses Pfizer's promising COVID-19 vaccine candidate

4 years ago

Duration 2:48

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with reporters, including the CBC's Tom Parry, during a media briefing on Monday.

Pfizer said it would continue to monitor fortrial-related concerns in the weeks ahead and it expects to have its final safety data by the third week of November.

The drugmaker said it is now readying an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization to deploy the vaccine for use on some people in the U.S. by year's end.

Based on current projections, Pfizer has said it expects to produce more than 50 million doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

WATCH: Vaccine news could be 'major win,' infectious disease expert says

Pfizer vaccine news could be 'major win,' says infectious disease specialist

4 years ago

Duration 1:22

Pfizer says early data indicates its COVID-19 vaccine may be 90% effective, but cautions that its study is still going. If the results hold, infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch says that would be a significant development in the fight against the coronavirus.

Dr. Zain Chagla, a professor of medicine at McMaster University and an expert in infectious diseases,cautioned against hyping results before long-term safety and efficacy data have been collected.

He pointed out thatthe Pfizer trial results werepublished in a press release and not in a peer-reviewed independent medical journal.

Still, Chagla said, the Pfizer development could bea major medical breakthrough that could help returnthe world to normalcy.

"The 90 per cent reduction in symptomatic COVID-19 is incredibly effective, way higher than the the thresholds that the World Health Organization and the FDA had set," Chaglatold CBC News.The FDA announced this summer that in order for an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to get the green light, it would need to be safe and "prevent disease or decrease its severity in at least 50 per cent of people who are vaccinated."

"This is a strong checkmark for things to progress with this vaccine and hopefully make it to the market," he said.

Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an expert on infectious diseases at the University of Toronto, also cautioned against "science by press release" but added thatif the trial results hold up,the world could have COVID-19 on the run.

"We always have to be skeptical, we always have to see the actual clinical data, but if the vaccine can truly reducethe risk of getting COVID-19by90 per cent, and if people are truly protected after that second dose ...I mean, clearly, that would be a major win," he said.

The rollout of a vaccine will be guided by Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), which has said the most vulnerable and those most likely to die from contracting the virus should be first in line forshots.

People living in long-term care homes, those with compromisedimmune systems, the elderly and essential workers like front line health care staffand grocery store employeeslikely willhave access to a vaccine before the general population.

"We've secured already millions of doses of that vaccine candidate and when it is safe to distribute, we will certainly be beginning distribution in Canada to high priority groups," Trudeau said.

This particular vaccine must be stored at -75 C whichcould make the logisticsof distribution"more complex," Trudeau said.Other vaccines arein the development pipeline that do not require such stringent storage requirements, he added.

The Pfizer vaccine is just one candidate that Canada is pursuing. In October, the government signed a contract to procure 76 million doses from the Quebec City-biotech company Medicago.

Medicago is developing the vaccine in partnership with the British drug company GlaxoSmithKline. The two companies have said its pre-clinical results show the vaccine demonstrated a "high level of neutralizing antibodies following a single dose."

All told, the federal government has secured 358 million doses ofCOVID-19 vaccines from seven different companies an insurance policy if some of the vaccines in development prove to be ineffective in clinical trials.