COVID-19 vaccine over 90 per cent effective: Pfizer

Pfizer said its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective. Pfizer and German partner BioNTech are the first drugmakers to release successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine. The companies said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek US authorisation this month for emergency use of the vaccine.

Health experts said Pfizer’s results were positive for all COVID-19 vaccines currently in development since they show the shots are going after the right target and are a proof of concept that the disease can be halted with vaccination.

“Today is a great day for science and humanity. We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen,” said Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s Chairman and CEO.

If Pfizer’s vaccine is authorised, the number of doses will initially be limited and many questions remain, including how long the vaccine will provide protection.

BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin told Reuters he was optimistic the immunisation effect of the vaccine would last for a year although that was not certain yet.