---
title: "COVID Vaccine Is Effective After Just Two Weeks"
description: "The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is effective after just two weeks following a single dose, according to FDA data."
date: "2020-12-08"
modified: "2020-12-08"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/covid-vaccine-effective-two-weeks"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "coronavirus"
  - "covid19"
  - "pfizer"
  - "vaccine"
---

# COVID Vaccine Is Effective After Just Two Weeks

![The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is effective after just two weeks following a single dose, according to FDA data.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/covid-vaccine-effective-two-weeks.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Image via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech effective just two weeks after the first of two doses, according to newly [released documents](<https://www.fda.gov/media/144245/download>) published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

https://twitter.com/wgibson/status/1336298050315313158

The news comes ahead of the FDA's vaccine advisory committee meeting on Thursday, which will lead to a vote whether the administration is willing to recommend the authorization to use Pfizer's vaccine in the country.

The FDA's conclusions are yet another glowing endorsement of the vaccine. According to [preliminary data](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/pfizer-covid-vaccine-95-percent-effective>) released by Pfizer and BioNTech last month, two doses of the vaccine administered three weeks apart resulted in an effectiveness of 95 percent.

The FDA's analysis suggests it may be effective much sooner: after just ten days, as [*The Verge* points out](<https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/8/22163146/covid-vaccine-fda-review-safe-effective-time-pfizer-biontech>), with new COVID-19 cases quickly diminishing in the vaccinated group — and that's not even after the second of two doses has been administered.

"This is what an A+ report card looks like for a vaccine," Yale University immunologist Akiko Iwasaki [told *The New York Times*](<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/health/covid-vaccine-pfizer.html>).

The US wouldn't be the first to authorize the vaccine. The UK became the first to do so last week and has already started administering shots.

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)