Hope at last

• Breakthrough – vaccine offers hope in battle against Covid-19 ● Sturgeon agrees share for Scotland if treatment approved • Tayside professor hails potential ‘game changer’ medication

Amajor breakthrough has been announced in the search for a coronavirus vaccine, with the jab from Pfizer found to be more than 90% effective.

The pharmaceutical giant and its partner BioNTech said interim results showed their jab could prevent people developing Covid-19.

Dr Albert Bourla, Pfizer chairman and chief executive, said: “Today is a great day for science and humanity.”

Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at Oxford University, said: “This news made me smile from ear to ear.”

England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said the findings demonstrated “the power of science against Covid”, adding: “We must see the final safety and efficacy data, but it is very encouraging.

“It is essential we continue to suppress Covid, but it is a reason for optimism for 2021.”

The FTSE 100 jumped more than 5.5% following the news, adding £82 billion to the value of its shares in the market’s best day since March.

The vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised.

Downing Street welcomed the results as “promising” and said the UK will have procured 10 million doses by the end of the year to be given out if it is approved.

The UK has secured 40 million doses of the vaccine in total.

The prime minister ’s official spokesman said: “The results are promising and while we are optimistic of a breakthrough, we must remember there are no guarantees.”

Pfizer and BioNTech plan to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration – the US medicines regulator – by the end of the month for emergency approval to use the vaccine.

About 12 C ovid -19 vaccines around the world are in the final stages of testing, but Pfizer’s is the first to report any results.

Dr Bourla said: “The first set of results from our phase three C ovid -19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent Covid-19.

“We will continue to collect further data as the trial continues to enrol, for a final analysis planned when a total of 164 confirmed Covid-19 cases have accrued.

“I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to make this important achievement possible.”

Prof Horby said the news “bodes well for Covid-19 vaccines in general”.

He added: “Of course we need to see more detail and await the final results, and there is a long, long way to go before vaccines will start to make a real difference, but this feels to me like a watershed moment.”

Ian Jones, professor of virology at Reading University, said the Pfizer trial data shows “really impressive protection”.

He said: “Of all the vaccines currently in development, the BioNtech product always looked like the most bang-per-buck as it is entirely focused on the part of the virus that binds to the human cell, the receptor binding domain.

“The questions around its use were about the ability to manufacture at scale and the possible toxicity associated with a directly-injected R NA product.

“The trial data show excellent results in both of those areas, really impressive protection and no reported adverse effects.”

Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at Southampton University, added: “This cautiously sounds like an excellent result from the phase three trials, but we should remain a little cautious.

“If the final results show an effectiveness of anywhere near 90% with response in elderly and ethnic minority populations, that is an excellent result for a first generation vaccine.”

With a long winter stretching out before us it is hugely welcome we finally have a glimmer of hope in the battle against Covid.

Thus far the only really effective tools we have had at our disposal have been social distancing, a fixation on hand washing and sanitisation and, in extremis, the incredible dedication and skills of our NHS staff.

But none of these eradicate the problem. They simply keep the wolf from the door.

Instead, the baton was passed to the pharmaceutical industry to come up with a cure for a killer.

It is a challenge that pharma has taken and run with. In an extraordinary global effort, around a dozen candidate vaccines are now in various phases of clinical trials.

Pfzer and Biontech yesterday revealed initial clinical data showing their vaccine offered up to a 90% protection against the virus.

The breakthrough was hailed around the world, with its developers describing their discovery as a great day for science and humanity.

In other circumstances that may be dismissed as hyperbole or PR spin, but anything that bloodies Covid’s nose deserves to be celebrated.

It will be some time yet before mass vaccination puts humanity on the front foot against this most horrible of viruses.

But at least we now have real hope to cling to that this nightmare will come to an end one day.

Professor James Chalmers, from Dundee.