Biden congratulates Pfizer for COVID-19 vaccine progress as Pence gives credit to Trump

The United States President-elect Joe Biden on November 9 hailed the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine progress as he congratulated the "women and men" who helped produce the breakthrough. Pfizer, which is developing an mRNA-based vaccine with German firm BioNTech, on Monday announced their candidate to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants. 

Read: Trump Accuses Pfizer Of Delaying COVID-19 Vaccine Announcement Until After Election Result

'Excellent news' 

Biden issued a statement on what he dubbed "excellent news", however, he also warned American people to wear face masks because even if a vaccine is approved by the end of this year, mass vaccination will still be months away. "This is why the head of CDC warned this fall that for the foreseeable future, a mask remains a more potent weapon against the virus than the vaccine. Today's news does not change this urgent reality," Biden said in his statement.

Read: WHO Chief Tedros Welcomes 'encouraging' News On COVID-19 Vaccine From Pfizer, BioNTech

Meanwhile, the White House is trying very hard to take credit for the development as Vice-President Mike Pence immediately after the news broke out held a meeting with COVID-19 Task Force and credited incumbent President Donald Trump for the progress. The 45th took to Twitter to celebrate the announcement of the vaccine and gains in the stock market as he tweeted in all caps, "STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!" 

Trump has also accused Pfizer and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of delaying the vaccine until after the election in order to ensure he doesn't get a "vaccine win" prior to polls. 

Read: Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Announcement Rocks Global Stock Markets

The United States is currently the worst affected country in the world with over 2,30,000 COVID-19 deaths and nearly 10 million cases. A vaccine by the end of 2020 would be great news for the country, however, it will still take many more months to vaccinate a large chunk of the population, which is required to bring the disease under control. President-elect Joe Biden has formed a COVID-19 advisory board and has said that he will be working with the team to decide the way forward. 

Read: Pfizer, BioNTech Seek EUA As COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Over 90% Efficacy; Here's What's Next