Covid-19 vaccine candidate is 90% effective, far exceeds expectations

Some unusually good news for 2020

Pfizer and BioNTech have described it as a "great day for science and humanity" after the first large scale trials for a preliminary Covid-19 vaccine found that it prevented 90 percent of people from contracting the virus. The results, which are reportedly much better than experts had expected, come after trials which saw the vaccine tested on 43,500 people across six countries. The findings have been met with optimism after what has been a mostly dismal year, especially since regulators have previously said that they will likely grant licenses to vaccines found to have an efficacy rate of higher than 50 percent. Details regarding how long immunity lasts have yet to be released by the manufacturers, though both Pfizer and BioNTech have said that they expect to have enough safety data to present the vaccine to regulators by the end of the month. Pfizer have stated that, should the vaccine be approved, they believe they can supply 50 million doses by the end of this year, and more than one billion doses by the end of next year. "We are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis," said Dr Albert Bourla, the Pfizer chairman and CEO. “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."