Apparent President-elect Joe Biden hinted masks and physical distancing would still be necessary for the foreseeable future, despite Pfizer and BioNTech announcing one of its COVID-19 vaccine candidates had a 90%-plus success rate.
“I congratulate the brilliant women and men who helped produce this breakthrough and to give us such cause for hope,” Biden said Monday.
But Biden, who was advised of the development Sunday, warned that “the end of the battle” against the novel coronavirus was “still months away.”
“This news follows a previously announced timeline by industry officials that forecast vaccine approval by late November,” he said. “Even if that is achieved, and some Americans are vaccinated later this year, it will be many more months before there is widespread vaccination in this country.”
Despite President Trump not conceding amid his legal challenges to last week’s election and the General Services Administration declining to start the official transition process, Biden is preparing to take over the country’s COVID-19 response on Jan. 20, 2021.
Earlier Monday, Biden revealed his 13-person shadow coronavirus task force. His advisory board, led by Dr. David Kessler, Dr. Vivek Murthy, and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, also includes Dr. Rick Bright.
Bright resigned from the Trump administration last month, claiming he was demoted after filing a whistleblower complaint against the federal government’s handling of the outbreak. He was Trump’s former Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority director and Department of Health and Human Services preparedness and response deputy assistant secretary.
Pfizer and BioNTech announced Monday an independent data monitoring committee analyzing its phase 3 clinical trial of more than 43,000 people found “a vaccine efficacy rate above 90%, at seven days after the second dose,” according to a press release.
Biden is expected to speak about the virus and its effect on the economy later on Monday.
