Pfizer and German partner Biontech are the first drug manufacturers to demonstrate successful data from a large-scale clinical study of a coronavirus vaccine, reports Reuters.
The test subjects in the study developed protection against the virus twenty-eight days after the first dose and seven days after the second, according to the preliminary results.
Early evaluations also show that the vaccine is 90 percent effective after dose two.
- We are an important step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough in helping to end this global health crisis, says Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in a statement.
Unclear how long the protection lasts
According to Pfizer, no serious risks have been identified with the vaccine, but it is still unclear how long people taking it will maintain protection against covid-19.
If the vaccine is approved, access to it will be limited at first, but Pfizer now plans to apply for US permission to use the vaccine in emergencies for people between the ages of 16 and 85.
To do this, it is required that the pharmaceutical company can present two months of test results from half of the study's more than 44,000 participants, which will take until the end of November according to the pharmaceutical company.
Large-scale testing of a potential covid-19 vaccine is underway in many parts of the world.
Eleven vaccine candidates are in so-called phase 3 studies - the last testing stage before any approval.
So far, only Astra Zeneca and Pfizer-Biontech have started an approval procedure with the Swedish Medicines Agency.
Pfizer's announcement has affected the stock market in several parts of the world.
Among other things, the Stockholm Stock Exchange's OMXS30 index rushed and was at 13.30 at 4.3 percent.