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Pfizer vaccine: I got amazing trial results on the day of mum's funeral

Nicholas Kitchin, Senior Director in Pfizer鈥檚 Vaccine Clinical Research and Development group, was closely involved with the trials for Covid-19 vaccine. The success or failure of the Pfizer/BioNTech project hinged on the results from the trials.

A positive result would show that all the cases of infection had taken place in people who had not been given the vaccine. The alternative - that there was no efficacy and the trials would have to be abandoned. Nicholas recalls the day when he learnt of the vaccine's overwhelmingly positive results - it was on the day of his mother's funeral.

"What a day of conflicting emotions - sadness for my mum, but such an amazing outcome. It was quite a day ... suddenly there was hope and a way out of this."

Photo: Nick Kitchin, Senior Director in Pfizer鈥檚 Vaccine Clinical Research and Development group Credit: Boston Globe Media

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3 minutes