Reasons to be cheerful! Stock markets around the world are going through the roof after Pfizer and BioNTech have revealed they have developed a vaccine for Covid-19: A company spokesman describing the development as a "great day for science and humanity".

Credit WHO

Stock markets around the world are going through the roof after Pfizer and BioNTech have revealed they have developed a vaccine for Covid-19 today with a company spokesman describing the development as a "great day for science and humanity".

The new vaccine is said to be more than 90% accurate in stopping people from getting the virus after nearly 50,000 have been tested preliminary analysis shows with no safety concerns. The vaccine will be authorised and will be available by the end of this month.  The UK has already put in an order for 40 million doses, enough for 20 million people. 

The two companies are waiting for the last of the safety tests which they say will be complete by the end of this month. Dr Albert Bourla, the chairman of Pfizer, said: "We are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis." Prof Ugur Sahin, one of the founders of BioNTech, described the results as a "milestone".

"This news made me smile from ear to ear," Prof Peter Horby, from the University of Oxford. "It is a relief... 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."

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