Coronavirus: hope builds after Pfizer-BioNTech says final analysis shows vaccine 95 per cent effective

Efficacy for adults over 65 years was over 94 per cent, a crucial factor for older demographics with a far higher Covid-19 mortality rate than young people

WHO’s Michael Ryan warns vaccines should not be seen as a ‘unicorn’ solution

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US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German partner BioNTech report that their vaccine candidate shows 95 per cent efficacy in the final analysis of their global clinical trials. Photo: TNS

Published: 6:00pm, 19 Nov 2020Updated: 10:46pm, 19 Nov 2020

A major milestone in the race for a vaccine to counter Covid-19 was reached on Wednesday, when the first vaccine developers to complete phase 3 trials announced results in what has been the fastest vaccine development in history.

The vaccine, developed by German firm BioNTech SE and American company Pfizer Inc, far exceeded a regulatory bar, showing 95 per cent efficacy in the final analysis of their global clinical trial, according to a company statement.

The vaccine makers said they would file for an emergency use authorisation with United States drug regulators “within days”, and the data would also be sent to other regulators around the world and submitted for peer review.

While scientists and health officials are hailing the positive news, some are cautioning that there is still a difficult road ahead in controlling the virus before vaccines become widely available.

The World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme executive director Michael Ryan said on Wednesday that vaccines should not be seen as a “unicorn” solution, and are likely to arrive too late to play a role in the second-wave surge in infections being seen in Europe and the Americas.

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