The first coronavirus vaccine could be here ‘within weeks’ and Ireland could be among the first countries to receive batches.
Paul Reid, the head of the Irish branch of Pfizer, says that the company could be in a position to issue 100 million doses of the vaccine.
Pfizer is now one of the favourites to win the vaccine race, but it first needs to get the green light from the authorities in the US and then the European Medicines Agency.
The two-dose vaccine, called BNT162b2, has been tested on 35,000 people so far, with almost 40,000 people enrolled in the trials program to date.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Mr Reid said that they are going to have to demonstrate the quality and consistency of the vaccine.
“We are trying to be as open as possible. We are sharing any conclusive read-out data, whether positive or negative, within a few days after independent scientists see it.
“The positivity around the vaccine is predicated on good science so far.”
But should a vaccine become available, many people in Ireland say they will not take it. 19% of those aged between 25 and 34 and 18% of those aged between 18 and 24 said they would not take a Covid-19 vaccine, according to a new poll carried out by Ipsos-MRBI for the IPHA.
Overall, one third of respondents said they were unsure whether they would take it, while 12% said they would not take it.
There are over 150 Covid-19 vaccines in development across the world, with about a dozen of them in late-stage clinical trials.
