PFIZER

The first-ever Covid-19 vaccine to be approved in the world was Comirnaty developed by Pfizer and BioNtech. The preliminary data released by Pfizer-BioNtech made history by being the first-ever to prove 90 per cent effectiveness against Covid-19. In March 2020, the United States' Pfizer, a multinational pharmaceutical partnered with Germany-based biotech firm BioNtech and launched clinical trials in May 2020. By July 2020, the vaccine went into Phase II/III trial with 30,000 volunteers in the United States and other countries including Argentina, Brazil, and Germany. By November 2o20, Pfizer and BioNTech released a preliminary analysis of the first 94 cases, first ever to do so. The impressive results led to authorization with the United Kingdom becoming the first Western country to approve a vaccine against Covid-19, in December 2020. After the UK, the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine also received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration. Also known as Tozinameran or BNT162b2, the vaccine is administered in two doses, three weeks apart. A muscle injection, the vaccine is on a genetic molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA). The European Union agreed to purchase 300 million doses, the US signed a deal for 100 million doses by July 2021, Japan made a deal for 120 million doses and another 100 million doses deal has been signed with China. Countries which have given emergency authorization for Comirnaty include Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Kuwait, Mexico, Panama, and Singapore. While, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland have given full approval to the vaccine. Overall, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to manufacture over 1.3 billion doses worldwide by the end of 2021.