Read on Twitter
I'm seeing a lot of calls to discount the Pfizer announcement because it hasn't been published/peer reviewed yet - little thread about that just to explain.
(I don't work for Pfizer and have no connection to this study, but I am a regulatory medical writer and do report study results in the format that goes to the FDA)
Also a former news/features reporter from way back so know this needs to be explained. Anyway - Pfizer is looking to get an emergency use authorization for this vaccine, so they need to report results to the FDA.
I am sure there are any number of medical writers working on that paper that will go to the journals for peer review, and others working on the study reports for these interim results to go to the FDA (numerous documents).
It is true that the only published results at this time are from Pfizer's press release here, but to say there's no data is incorrect - the release reports the key findings of the data. https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against
The entire design of the study is laid out in the study protocol (this is done for all studies) - we are lucky that we can read it in full here
https://pfe-pfizercom-d8-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/2020-11/C4591001_Clinical_Protocol_Nov2020.pdf
https://pfe-pfizercom-d8-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/2020-11/C4591001_Clinical_Protocol_Nov2020.pdf
What happens is that the study reports and other associated documents are submitted to the FDA for emergency use - they will do that later this month when they get more safety data.
Getting this done is THE priority as the public needs a working vaccine. What is confusing people is that peer reviewed publications ABOUT RCTs are what everyone looks for.
The peer reviewed publications will be coming. The study itself has been peer reviewed in terms of design. The data are monitored throught as part of the process. The difference here is that the company shared results - it's in the public interest to do so.
Obviously Pfizer doesn't look too shabby either by doing that. You're simply hearing about promising results while the study is still ongoing, before an FDA submission. It's not political, it's not hype.
That was way too many words to basically say "not everything is a conspiracy and you're just watching people work through a window"
One more, here's a link to the clinical trial registry info for this Pfizer study. It'll be updated as time goes on. I'm hoping they'll release the full clinical study report when it's ready (will be thousands of pgs) - I want to read it, others will too. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04368728
And another, because that weird data zombie tweeter had issue with the number enrolled.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/health/covid-vaccine-pfizer.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/health/covid-vaccine-pfizer.html
One more, because the Pfizer CEO addressed this with Axios.
https://www.axios.com/pfizer-ceo-says-he-wouldve-released-vaccine-data-before-election-if-possible-a4f0c822-bf49-4a04-ac7f-5275c8d895b4.html
https://www.axios.com/pfizer-ceo-says-he-wouldve-released-vaccine-data-before-election-if-possible-a4f0c822-bf49-4a04-ac7f-5275c8d895b4.html
i didn't add hashtags meh
