Covid-19 Vaccine ’Best Science News’ of 2020

By Staff, Agencies

Data indicating that a vaccine being developed against Covid-19 is highly effective is the "best science news of the year", a pharmaceutical industry association chief said, voicing hope that other vaccine candidates would show equally good results.

"A vaccine that has 90 percent efficacy and is pretty safe, that is a historic breakthrough," the head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations [IFPMA], Thomas Cueni, said.

Relatively, American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced Monday that their vaccine had proven 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19 infections in ongoing Phase 3 trials involving more than 40,000 people.

"This was the best science news of the year," Cueni told AFP in an interview.

Hopes are also high that one or several of the vaccines under development will also help rein in the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 1.3 million people out of the over 51.5 million infected.

There are currently more than 40 candidate vaccines against Covid-19 being tested on humans, with a handful in the most advanced Phase 3 trials.

Cueni acknowledged that more data was needed on the Pfizer and BioNTech candidate, which is based on an innovative technology that has never been approved for use before.

The companies based their announcement on interim results from the last step in their clinical trial before officially applying for approval.