Finally, some good news: Pfizer claims mRNA vaccine is 90% effective against COVID-19. The bad news: we are in the third wave, 3 times as bad as the first wave.

Pfizer and BioNTech today (November 9) announced early Phase III trial results that showed their mRNA vaccine is more than 90% effective against COVID-19, with no serious side effects (yet.) The Pfizer vaccine was developed without direct support from the US government, although they have pre-sold 50 million doses for delivery by the end of this year.

The vaccine will be delivered in over 1 billion doses next year. Unfortunately, prior to administration, it must be stored at -100 degrees Fahrenheit. This will make it much more cumbersome to distribute than some other vaccines.

The Emergency Use Approval (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon be forthcoming. We also hold out hope that easier-to-store vaccines will be approved, especially because widespread distribution in poor countries worldwide will depend on less cumbersome material.

You can peruse this New York Times article for further information. Here is an article from Stat news as well. Here is Pfizer’s press release. Finally, here is an Associated Press item.

MSNBC has also stated on television, with a graph to illustrate, that we are in the third wave of infections. The first wave was in April. The second wave, twice the height of the first, was in July. The third wave, heading up now, is already triple the height of the first. Here is an article from Vox.com explaining the “third wave” or “surge.”

The Biden administration has announced today that it has appointed a coronavirus committee consisting of twelve experts in health and epidemiology. The new administration plans to hit the ground running. According to CNN, the coronavirus team will include Rick Bright, who was sidelined by the previous administration and has been designated a whistleblower.