New COVID Vaccine Could Bring Sporting Events Back by End of 2021

• Pfizer announces new COVID-19 vaccine is up to 90 percent effective in preventing contraction
• Could vaccine distribution lead to fans attending sporting events next year?
• NBA season to begin in December without fans in arenas

On Monday, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced that their COVID-19 vaccine, which is being co-developed with German biotechnology firm BioNTech, was better than 90 percent effective at preventing people from contracting the coronavirus. A group of over 40,000 volunteers offered to take part in the study. Half of the participants were given the experimental vaccine, while the other half were given a placebo shot.

The 44,000-person trial has seen 94 participants contract COVID-19. Of those 94 cases, less than nine of them came in people that received two shots of the vaccine. The vast majority of participants that contracted the coronavirus were given the placebo instead.

“The vaccine is really a 2021 event in terms of when it’s going to provide protective immunity to that initial tranche” of recipients, @ScottGottliebMD said today. https://t.co/kv4hr9fuaG

— CNBC (@CNBC) November 9, 2020

Many in the public health community have expressed optimism at Pfizer’s reported results. While vaccine distribution is another massive challenge entirely, the potential existence of a vaccine that is this effective in preventing contraction of COVID-19 is a potential game-changer in the world’s fight against the pandemic.

When Will Sports Return to Normal?

News of an effective vaccine is crucial considering the way the virus continues to spread unabated throughout the US and the rest of the world. However, there will obviously be quite a bit of time between now and when the vaccine is readily available to the general public. Manufacturing and distributing billions of doses of any vaccine is a very tall order.

What does the news mean for the potential for sports to get back to normal?

Time will tell. The NBA recently voted to move ahead with starting the 2020-21 season on December 22. The league has acknowledged that it will likely have to continue hosting games without fans in attendance, especially early in the season.

The 72-game season is unlikely to look like a normal campaign, especially at first. The NBA has reportedly toyed with the idea of opening some of its in-arena suites to some fans on a limited basis, but that’s certainly a far cry from having a full 20,000-seat arena.

As of now, teams are expecting to play in their respective home arenas, even without fans. Most NFL teams around the league are allowing a limited number of fans to attend games, while Major League Baseball just did the same for the World Series.

Timing of Distribution Is Key

Obviously, a full return to “normal” depends on just how quickly the vaccine can be distributed to the general public. Frontline healthcare workers would seem to be natural choices to be the first recipients of the new vaccine if it does prove to be as effective as Pfizer claims.

At this point, it looks much more likely that sporting events will start to look more normal by the end of 2021. That means the 2020-21 NBA season will likely come and go without jam-packed arenas, while the ongoing NFL season will surely come to a close before the vaccine is widely available.

However, there is a distinct possibility that sports leagues can start to allow fans to attend games on a large-scale basis if the vaccine is widely available toward the end of next year.

Some health officials are concerned about the NBA’s plans to start the next season so shortly after the end of the last one, which came to an end in October. The league’s likely 71-day offseason spanning from the end of the NBA Finals in October to the beginning of the new season in late-December will be the shortest offseason the NBA, NHL, NFL, or Major League Baseball has ever endured.