Everything you want and need to know about the Pfizer vaccine

I can imagine that you might have missed it in all the Trump/Biden madness, but we are indeed talking about a breakthrough here, right? Yes: after months of blood, sweat, and tears, a vaccine for the coronavirus has been found. At least, that's what the American company Pfizer claims. But what does that actually mean for us?

The nice thing about writing: you can educate yourself by figuring out and writing down complicated issues in simple language. So that's what I did. For me, for you. Here you go.

What has been presented exactly?
Well, look, that vaccine has been around for a while, but it always takes time to test. Since July, the vaccine from Pfizer (a huge pharmaceutical company in the US) and BioNTech (a smaller company in Germany) has been tested on over 43,000 people. What turns out cautiously? The trial participants who received the vaccine contracted the coronavirus much less often. Researchers cautiously conclude that the vaccine they tested is about 90 percent effective.

What kind of vaccine is this?
This is an mRNA vaccine, hyper-modern stuff where a piece of genetic material is ‘made’ and injected based on the genes of the Covid-19 virus. Okay, you might think. Long story short: you actually get a code of a protein injected that is part of the coronavirus, which causes your body to produce this protein, which then triggers an immune response, providing protection against the virus. Aha. A cookie of your own dough to beat the system.

What do the experts say?
Several scientists are positive about the outcome of these results. An effectiveness rate of 90 percent is indeed high. But there are cautious whispers that we do not know to what extent the vaccine is effective in the long term. Based on these results, that is not yet visible, and as long as that is not visible, scientists are keeping a cautious stance. Some expect that the high effectiveness of over 90 percent will not hold and may decline.

And now?
In the United States, the vaccine may hit the market as early as this month, while in Europe we will have to wait a bit longer. The vaccine still needs to be approved in Amsterdam by the European Medicines Agency, and that takes time. The earliest mention is the end of December.

Does that mean we will all get the vaccine?
Nope, it’s not that easy. The Netherlands will receive, if the vaccine is available, a not too large initial shipment. This would mean that starting in December or January, hundreds of thousands of Dutch people could be vaccinated each month. The government will eventually come up with advice on who could benefit the most from the vaccine to achieve ‘maximum health gain.’.