Words to warm your heart
Life could be back to normal by spring of 2021, according to a leading immunologist who spoke to the BBC on Monday following the news that Pfizer and BioNTech had developed a Covid-19 vaccine which was found to prevent 90 percent of people from contracting the virus.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s The World at One, Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, spoke of his delight and optimism for the future after hearing of the results of the trials.
Sarah Montague is all of us 👏 pic.twitter.com/Kl7ad7SxS2
— Sophie Morris (@itssophiemorris) November 9, 2020
“I am really delighted with this result – it shows that you can make a vaccine against this little critter. 90% is an amazing level of efficacy,” Bell said.
When asked whether he felt whether it was possible for life to return to normal by spring, Bell, who sits on the government’s coronavirus task force, said: “Yes, yes, yes. I am probably the first guy to say that but I will say that with some confidence.”
The results come after trials which saw the vaccine tested on 43,500 people across six countries, and exceed the 50 percent efficacy rate which was deemed the benchmark by regulators for licensing potential vaccines.
Pfizer have stated that, should the vaccine be approved, they believe they can supply 50 million doses by the end of this year, and more than one billion doses by the end of next year.
It’s understood that the UK government has secured about 100 million doses of the jab in an agreement with both Pfizer and BioNTech.
