Pfizer finds COVID pill 89% effective, some hospitals drop vaccine mandates amid labor shortage
Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani breaks down the latest data from Pfizer on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine against the Omicron variant and treatment pills for COVID-19.
Video Transcript
JULIE HYMAN: I want to bring you the latest in COVID headlines here. The latest data coming from Pfizer, both about vaccinations and their success rate against Omicron, as well as treatment pills for COVID. Our Anjalee Khemlani is here with the latest and what we're hearing from Pfizer. Anjalee, good morning.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Good morning, Julie. That's right, some good news from Pfizer this morning of the pill that they have been ready to submit to the FDA for an emergency use authorization, just proved to confirm the initial results that they had released last month. So right now, they're looking at 89% effectiveness against the virus, and that's in high risk adults, as well as 88% effectiveness for overall individuals that were in the study. And that is really for a five day course. And this provides protection against hospitalization and death, which of course, is the ultimate prevention that is needed from a pill like this.
Right now, they are waiting for word from the FDA on accepting this data, and whether or not that EUA will come through. Just as a side note, Merck, which also has a pill to fight COVID, it had less effective results, has already had an FDA advisory committee meeting, but no ruling just yet on whether or not that pill will be accepted. Meanwhile, Pfizer also has some good news coming out of South Africa, which we know saw a significant surge recently, and the vaccine has proved 70% effective against the Omicron variant according to a study from South Africa. So that is proving the case for what we're waiting to see here in the US. Back to you.
BRIAN SOZZI: And Anjalee, this comes alongside-- this bit of positive news, I should say, comes alongside of, really, rising cases globally as it pertains to Omicron.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's right, Brian. We know that, globally, cases continue to drive up, and especially looking at areas like South Africa that just saw a surge. The African continent, in general, recorded an 83% surge in new cases this week, and really all eyes there, as well as in Europe, where we know that Omicron is spreading.
Right now, we've got more than 270 million cases globally, as well as more than 5.3 million deaths. Here in the US, that number is more than 2-- sorry, that number is 50 million cases. That is a significant milestone that the US has reached. And we also know that, of course, unfortunately, the death toll has surpassed 800,000 this week. Back to you.
JULIE HYMAN: And Anjalee, finally, another thread that we're following in all of this are the various vaccine mandates, particularly for health care workers, because even as we had a mandate in New York stand for health care workers, they're not standing everywhere.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's correct. Last month, we saw the ruling from a Missouri federal court, which basically blocked the Biden administration's attempt to require vaccines for all health workers, and that was through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That block affected several states. And so as a result, we've seen this easing of vaccine mandates in some major health care providers, especially those that operate in multiple states. That includes larger industry corporations like HCA, as well as some nonprofits like AdventHealth and the Cleveland Clinic.
We also have seen this really affect hospitals as a result of the labor shortage. They're battling that right now at the same time. And so the loss of any health care workers, be it nurses, or janitors, they've all been, across the board, really crunched for labor. And so that is really part of the issue and part of the reason why some of them are giving to reduce that mandate, even though we have seen at least 42% of hospitals have some sort of mandate in place, according to the American Hospital Association. And we've also seen some concerning numbers, some areas more than others of course, who are unvaccinated, remain pretty high.
JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, definitely something to know about if you are going in to get health care in these various places. Anjalee Khemlani, thank you so much.
