Pfizer and BioNTech Conclude Phase 3 Study of Covid-19 Vaccine Candidate

Re:Pfizer and BioNTech Conclude Phase 3 Study of Covid-19 Va... by chadash on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @09:23AM (#25137031)

The relevant piece for most people to know is that based on data from a short time period, people were 20x less likely to get symptomatic COVID if they get the vaccine. The exact number will probably change a bit as more time goes by and more data comes in, but 20x is the ballpark.

Things we still don't know:

- Does the vaccine also stop you from contracting the virus asymptomatically and spreading it? People enrolled in the trial were only told to get tested if they showed symptoms.

- How long does the immunity from the vaccine last? We won't know this for some time.

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Re:Pfizer and BioNTech Conclude Phase 3 Study of Covid-19 Va... by joshyeager on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @11:55AM (#25139110)

A new study of 185 COVID patients found that 90% of the subjects were still seropositive for neutralizing antibodies at the 6 to 8 month time points. B-cells specific to the Spike and to the nucleocapsid coronavirus proteins actually increased over a five-month period. Memory T cells appeared to have half-lives of at least five or six months in these patients, and helper T cells were completely stable over the entire period studied.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.15.383323v1

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Re:Pfizer and BioNTech Conclude Phase 3 Study of Covid-19 Va... by neom on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @09:32AM (#25137152)

I presume how long immunity lasts is based on how well and quickly the virus can mutate itself? Do we have any research on other Coronaviruses that might hint at how long immunity will last?

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Re:Pfizer and BioNTech Conclude Phase 3 Study of Covid-19 Va... by tsimionescu on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @10:12AM (#25137588)

That's part of it, but it also depends on the 'memory' of your immune system.

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