Daily life may return to normal by next winter, according to one of the creators of the highly-anticipated prospective coronavirus vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech.
Professor Ugur Sahin, co-founder, and chief executive of BioNTech, also suggested the vaccine could halve transmission of the virus, resulting in a “dramatic reduction” in the number of reported cases.
Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech said an early analysis of their vaccine candidate showed it was more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 infections. Approximately 43,500 people took part in the tests.
The vaccine efficacy was significantly higher than scientists had been expecting, prompting Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla to declare the development: “A great day for science and humanity.”
Huge challenges remain before a vaccine can be rolled out, but the news raised expectations that one could be delivered perhaps even before the end of the year.
It is hoped a vaccine could help bring an end to the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over 1.31 million lives worldwide.
“This winter will be hard. So, we will not have a big impact on the infection numbers with our vaccine this winter,” BioNTech’s Sahin said.
“If everything continues to go well, we will start to deliver the vaccine end of this year, beginning (of) next year. Our goal is to deliver more than 300 million of vaccine doses until April next year which could allow us to already start to make an impact.”
Sahin said it was “absolutely essential” to complete immunizations before next fall.
