US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said that its drug had shown 90 percent effectiveness in tests involving more than 40,000 people, calling the results a critical milestone.
Stock markets accelerated rapidly on the vaccine news, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up three percent at Monday’s close of trade.
An effective vaccine has long been expected in ardent hopes to break the cycle of Covid-19 virus surges and severe restrictions across the world since the virus first emerged in China late last year.
Tens of millions of people in Europe are living under lockdowns preventing them from leaving their homes, while millions of business owners are enduring forced closures.
In a statement, Pfizer chairman Albert Bourla said they are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough and help bring an end to this global health crisis. The drug, being developed jointly with German firm BioNTech, is one of more than 40 candidate vaccines, but no other has yet made similar claims about its effectiveness
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