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First Coronavirus vaccine offers 90% protection

First Coronavirus vaccine offers 90% protection

Author: Rafi Benady | Monday 9th November 2020

First Coronavirus vaccine offers 90% protection Photograph

Initial analysis suggests the first coronavirus vaccine can prevent more than 90% of people from contracting the disease.

The vaccine was tested on almost 44,000 people in six countries, with zero safety concerns raised.

Developers Pfizer and BioNTech said it’s "great day for science and humanity".

The plan is for the two companies to apply for emergency approval to roll out the vaccine by the end of the month.

The vaccine uses a completely experimental approach - that involves injecting part of the virus's genetic code - in order to train the immune system.

It requires two doses, three weeks apart. The trials - in US, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Turkey - show 90% protection is achieved seven days after the second dose.

Pfizer hopes it will be able to supply 50 million doses by the end of 2020, and around 1.3 billion by the end of 2021.

But it’s not known how long immunity will last.

Chairman of Pfizer, Dr Albert Bourla said: "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."