WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — A possible breakthrough in the Pfizer COVID-19 clinical trials may hold the answer to the coronavirus pandemic.
Larry Maggi, a Washington County commissioner, is participating in the trial that’s now getting worldwide attention.
The pharmaceutical company announced on Monday the first set of results from their phase three study, suggesting the vaccine may be 90% effective at preventing the virus.
“I’m very excited. I just hope. We need to get a solution. We need to get going, get back to some normalcy, and I think with a vaccine that’s going to happen. And it looks like it’s going to happen sooner than later,” Maggi said.
We’ve been following Maggi’s journey since the very beginning, before his first trip to the testing site at Ohio State University in Columbus in August.
He was going there every few weeks, but his next appointment isn’t until February, which he interpreted as a good sign.
“I kind of sensed that maybe we are coming to the end of it. I didn’t know. They didn’t tell me that. I just sensed that from the appointment schedule,” Maggi said.
For the trial, he’s been required to take his temperature several times a day and then answer a series of in-depth questions, but recently the process has changed to one yes or no question asking if he’s experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.
So far, he’s felt great and has experienced no symptoms.
Maggi tells me that if the vaccine is approved by the federal government, he trusts his own kids and grandkids to take it, as well as his constituents in Washington County. That’s how much he has faith in the process.
“I’m so proud and glad I’m a part of it,” Maggi said.
The early results put Pfizer on track to apply later this month for emergency-use authorization from the FDA.
On Monday, Dr. Rachel Levine explained what’s next in this process and what that could mean for Pennsylvania.
Levine also said they’ve already reached out to hospitals and health systems to accomplish what they need in order to administer the vaccine, which would happen in three phases. First would be primarily healthcare personnel and then high risk patients, elderly folks and essential workers.
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