While the rest of the world celebrated the news that pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is almost ready to release a coronavirus vaccine to the public, one of the major beneficiaries of this year’s extraordinary circumstances is going to adversely effected. After the positive news broke of the upcoming coronavirus vaccine, video conferencing app Zoom’s share price plummeted.
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As the pandemic hit the globe and millions of people around the world started working from home, workplaces needed tools to meet up and continue business as usual in the most unusual of circumstances. With people hunkered down at home, they were also unable to see their family and friends and it also necessitated a virtual meeting place.
All video conferencing apps benefited from this shift in behaviour but Zoom famously benefited most. At its peak of worldwide lockdowns Zoom had 300 million active daily users, and its share price increased by more than 600 percent.
Pfizer announced last week that interim analysis of its new coronavirus vaccine showed that it is more than 90 percent effective at preventing COVID-19, which is has developed with German biotech company BioNTech. On the news, Zoom’s share price plummeted almost 20 percent in a single day.
The sell-off comes on fears that the advent of this vaccine could assist in most businesses opening their offices again and people moving away from virtual meeting software, as well as friends and family not needing virtual catch-ups.
The study enrolled 43,538 participants, with 42% having diverse backgrounds, and no serious safety concerns have been observed, the companies report. Results showed that after the second dose was administered, it had a 90% efficacy rate at stopping contraction of the virus, when compared to the placebo group.
Dr Albert Bourla, Pfizer chairman and chief executive, said: “Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent Covid-19. We will continue to collect further data as the trial continues to enrol for a final analysis planned when a total of 164 confirmed Covid-19 cases have accrued.”
