Two companies have announced that their COVID-19 vaccine has proved effective in more than 90% of people.
Pfizer and BioNTech have tested their vaccine on 43,500 people in six countries.
Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chairman and CEO, said the test results mean the world is “a significant step closer” to making a breakthrough in the struggle against the coronavirus pandemic.
“Today is a great day for science and humanity,” he said.
He added: “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.”
The two companies plan to apply for emergency approval so they can begin using the vaccine by the end of November.
According to their tests, protection is acquired 28 days after a person is vaccinated.
It requires two doses, three weeks apart, to be effective.
No “serious safety concerns” have been reported during the trials, Pfizer said.
“I want to thank the thousands of people who volunteered to participate in the clinical trial, our academic collaborators and investigators at the study sites, and our colleagues and collaborators around the world who are dedicating their time to this crucial endeavour,” Dr. Bourla said.
“We could not have come this far without the tremendous commitment of everyone involved.”
The companies said they expected to produce up to 50 million doses of the vaccine by the end of 2020.
In 2021, they expect to produce 1.3 billion doses.
The vaccine uses a novel technique to build immunity, the firms explained.
Part of the virus’s genetic code is injected into the patient so that the immune system can be trained to fight off COVID-19.
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