First covid vaccine offers 90% protection

 From the BBC

The first coronavirus vaccine can prevent more than 90% of people from getting Covid-19, a preliminary analysis shows.  The developers - Pfizer and BioNTech - described it as a "great day for science and humanity".  Their vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised.  The companies plan to apply for emergency approval to use the vaccine by the end of the month.

A vaccine - alongside better treatments - is seen as the best way of getting out of the restrictions that have been imposed on all our lives.  There are around a dozen in the final stages of testing, but this is the first to show any results.

It uses a completely experimental approach - that involves injecting part of the virus's genetic code - in order to train the immune system.  Two doses, three weeks apart, are needed. The trials - in US, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Turkey - show 90% protection is achieved seven days after the second dose.

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

However, there are logistical challenges as the vaccine has to be kept in ultra-cold storage at below minus 80C.

There are also questions about how long immunity lasts.

Dr Albert Bourla, the chairman of Pfizer, 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."

Prof Ugur Sahin, one of the founders of BioNTech, described the results as a "milestone".

The UK has already ordered 30m doses.