With over 90% effectiveness in a preliminary analysis, the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine could help life get back to normal.
The UK has ordered 30 million doses—and another 10 million are expected to be rolled out by the end of the year.
Though still in the early stages of testing, Professor Ugur Sahin, BioNTech co-founder expressed his confidence in the new vaccine on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show.
“I’m very confident that transmission between people will be reduced by such a highly effective vaccine,” Sahin said. “Maybe not 90% but maybe 50%—but we should not forget that even that could result in a dramatic reduction of the pandemic spread.”
Sahin expressed his goal was to deliver more than 300 million doses worldwide by next April.
He listed the “key side effects” of the vaccine to be some pain in the injection site. No other serious side effects were found.
Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, seems to think life will be back to what it once was by spring of 2021. “I’m probably the first guy to say that,” he said in an earlier interview with BBC Radio 4.
“I am really delighted with this result,” he continued, “it shows that you can make a vaccine against this little critter. 90% is an amazing level of efficacy. It rolls the pitch for other vaccines because I can’t see any reason now why we shouldn’t have a handful of good vaccines.”
But we can’t get too excited yet.
The vaccine still comes with its uncertainties, as it still needs approval from regulators and not a lot is known about it. No data exists proving the vaccine to be as effective in those who need it most, the elderly, as it is in younger people.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people not to get their hopes up too high, but he did say ‘if and when’ the vaccine is approved, the UK will be “ready to start using it.”
