Progress Made On Covid-19 Vaccine As Kenya Records 756 More Cases

Pfizer Inc. stated that early efficacy tests of its coronavirus vaccine show that it's 90 percent effective.

On Monday the CEO Albert Bourla said that the pharmaceutical company and its collaborator BioNTech found in a phase 3 study that the potential COVID-19 vaccine was "found to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis."

"The results demonstrate that our mRNA-based vaccine can help prevent COVID-19 in the majority of people who receive it," said Bourla. "This means we are one step closer to potentially providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global pandemic," Bourla said.

"This is a first but critical step as we continue our work to deliver a safe and effective vaccine," he added.

Bourla went on to say that more data is needed before the company can apply for FDA Emergency Use Authorization, and clinical studies are still ongoing.

"We look forward to sharing additional updates in the coming weeks and will continue to work closely with regulatory authorities to provide access to our anticipated vaccine for those who need it most," added Bourla.

Covid-19 Today

On Monday the Ministry of Health announced that 756 more people tested positive for coronavirus out of a sample size of 4,316 tested in the last 24 hours.

This brings the total national tally to 63,244 and the cumulative tests now stand at 746,797. From the new cases, 731 are Kenyans and 25 are foreigners.

The youngest is a one-year-old infant while the oldest is 81 years. In terms of gender 478 are males and 278 are females.

An additional 19 patients succumbed to the disease bringing the fatality to 1,130.

728 patients also recovered from the disease, 645 being from the Home Based Care Program while 83 were discharged from various hospitals. The total number of recoveries now stands at 42,659.