The American drug maker Pfizer has claimed that its coronavirus vaccine was 95 per cent effective and had no serious side effects.
Pfizer developed the vaccine with its partner BioNTech.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
The vaccine proved to be effective during the first set of complete results from a late-stage vaccine trial.
The data showed that the vaccine prevented mild and severe forms of Covid-19.
It was 94 per cent effective in older adults, who are more vulnerable to developing severe Covid-19 related complications.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
Also read: Chinese Covid-19 vaccine appears safe, says study
The vaccine trial included nearly 44,000 volunteers.
While half of them were administered the vaccine, the other half received a placebo shot of salt water.
The researchers waited to see how many people in each group developed Covid-19.
The drug companies now plan to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of this coronavirus vaccine.
“The study results mark an important step in this historic eight-month journey to bring forward a vaccine capable of helping to end this devastating pandemic,” a report quoted Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chief executive..
If the two-dose vaccine is authorized, Pfizer could have up to 50 million doses available by the end of the year.
1.3 billion doses will be made available by the end of 2021.