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Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine timeline aims "to ensure public trust"

16 October 2020
Dan Ackermann

Pfizer says people might start getting COVID-19 vaccines before the end of the year, according to a timeline it laid out Friday.

The state of play: By the end of October, the company said it hopes to know whether the vaccine is effective, the Wall Street Journal reports.

  • By the 3rd week of November, it hopes to know whether it's safe for distribution.
  • By late November, the company could request an emergency use authorization.

The big picture: This reduces the odds of a vaccine being approved before the election, but also works to reduce concerns about vaccines being approved for political reasons.

  • “To ensure public trust and clear up a great deal of confusion, I believe it is essential for the public to understand our estimated timelines,” CEO Mr. Albert Bourla said today.

The bottom line: "The vaccine candidate from Pfizer and BioNTech is among the most advanced in development, along with candidates from AstraZeneca PLC, Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson," the Journal notes.

  • "Yet trials for AstraZeneca and J&J’s vaccines are on hold, at least in the U.S., as safety issues are probed."
  • "The studies’ pauses, combined with the timeline laid out by Pfizer, suggest the company’s shot could be one of the first, if not the first, to be sent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for review."

Go deeper:

  • Operation Warp Speed's Moncef Slaoui on the new vaccine timeline. Listen here.
  • Trump administration announces deal with CVS, Walgreens to give COVID-19 vaccine to seniors.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.