Summary: <p>Pfizer <a href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against">announced</a> Monday that its coronavirus vaccine demonstrated more than 90% effectiveness and no serious bad reactions in trial results — an outcome that should enable the company to obtain an emergency authorization soon. Between the vaccine and the unveiling, also on Monday, of a Biden-led coronavirus task force, it seemed like the rare pandemic-era day in which the good news could compete with the tragic. But Pulitzer Prize–winning science writer <a href="https://twitter.com/Laurie_Garrett">Laurie Garrett</a> wrote this week in <em>Foreign Policy</em> that even if this vaccine works as advertised, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/10/the-vaccine-news-is-good-heres-the-bad-news/">there are still plenty of reasons to worry about much good it can do.</a> In this podcast extra, Garrett tells Brooke about what she views as caveats to the potential breakthrough. </p> <p>CORRECTION: This podcast contains an error concerning the timing of testing after the second dose of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine candidate. According to a <a href="https://pfe-pfizercom-d8-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/2020-11/C4591001_Clinical_Protocol_Nov2020.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" title="https://pfe-pfizercom-d8-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/2020-11/C4591001_Clinical_Protocol_Nov2020.pdf">protocol released by Pfizer</a>, Phase 3 study participants were tested for coronavirus "<em>at least</em> 7 days after receipt of the second dose," [emphasis added]. In this interview, Garrett says, "7 days after [the second dose], [participants] got a COVID test. The results presented are what was found at that seven-day point." Rather, the <a href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" title="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against">results announced by Pfizer</a> earlier this month were based on testing conducted <em>at least</em> one week after the second dose. </p> <p>We reached out to Garrett for additional comment, and she added this: "All [Pfizer's] protocol required was a single test at the 7 day point. Eventually, Pfizer has extended that to 14 days. Since we don’t have any breakdown on numbers in the only published info — press release — we don’t know what % of the vax recipients were tested at 7 days, 8 days, 12 days…..no idea. So all we CAN say is that they all got a minimum of response time before testing. It’s a glass half full, half empty issue."</p>
