5 reasons experts are optimistic about Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. 3 reasons why they're cautious.

Pfizer.
(Image credit: Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)

Science and health experts are bullish on the news about the Pfizer and BioNTech coronavirus vaccine candidate.

The main reason for the excitement is the vaccine looks like it's on pace to fly right past the Food and Drug Administration's 50 percent efficacy threshold, according to its interim analysis, which pegged the rate at 90 percent so far. There's more good news between the lines, though — the companies say they haven't observed any safety concerns among trial volunteers, the immune response should last for up to a year, and it's unlikely any mutations would be able to overcome the immune response.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.