November 9, 2020

Dear Friends,

Today, Pfizer announced that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate was more than 90 percent effective in preventing the virus in participants not previously infected, based on the early results from Phase 3 trial data. Over 43,000 participants have enrolled in this phase of testing. Pfizer anticipates applying for an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration later in November.

This is great news. Since the beginning of this pandemic, I have said that we will defeat this Coronavirus through American innovation. Pfizer’s announcement brings hope that we are closer to having a vaccine and returning to normal. This announcement is promising for Americans and reflects the hard work, dedication, and brainpower of American scientists.

National Updates
AstraZeneca expects to release information about the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate by the end of the year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization to GenScript USA Inc. for its serology test that detects neutralizing antibodies from recent or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.

60 Minutes covered Operation Warp Speed, interviewing the leaders tasked with delivering 300 million doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccine to Americans.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study on patients who were readmitted to the same hospital within 2 months of being discharged after treatment for COVID-19.

Until next time, this is your doctor’s note.

Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D.