The Covid-19 vaccine which is being developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE prevented more than 90% of infections, the most encouraging scientific breakthrough to date in the battle against coronavirus.
The companies said the analysis found that the vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing the disease in volunteers who had no evidence of previous coronavirus infection. No serious concerns have been reported.
Half of the participants received two doses of the vaccine and half received a placebo (placebo - a substance or treatment designed to have no therapeutic value).
The study found that 94 participants who received the two-dose vaccine were protected from the disease 28 days after their first inoculation (inoculation - the introduction of a pathogenic microbe into the body of a healthy individual to cause him a mild form of the disease ).
"For me, this is the best possible outcome," Ugur Sahin, co-founder and CEO of BioNTech, told the Financial Times, while Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said it was "a great day for science and humanity". Sahin added that the medicine would be presented to the authorities for emergency approval within a few weeks.
The results exceed the US Food and Drug Administration criteria for approving a Covid-19 vaccine, which orders an efficacy of at least 50% in the first trials. No vaccine is 100% effective, according to the World Health Organization.
Pfizer and BioNTech said up to 50 million doses of the vaccine could be produced this year and another 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
Burimet: Financial Times, Bloomberg, New York Times
