One of the biggest vaccine trials in the world says its vaccine is 90 per cent effective.
US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said the first interim results from its large-scale trials found the vaccine to be effective for nine out of ten people who had not been infected before.
It is a far higher efficacy rate than many experts had hoped for - with regulators prepared to accept a vaccine that was just 50 per cent effective.
More than 43,000 people have taken part in a trial, and either got two doses of either the immunisation or a placebo, which doesn't do anything.
Pfizer is developing the jab with German firm, Bio-N-Tech.
The company said today is a "great day for science and humanity", with tests showing no evidence of side effects.
If Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is indeed 90% effective at preventing COVID-19 based on the interim data of the Phase 3 clinical trial, then the end of the coronavirus pandemic may very well be in sight. Keep wearing those masks and social distance. We’re in the home stretch now.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) November 9, 2020
Sky journalist Thomas Moore said the break-through is a "tremendous result".
"There's still a lot more to go," he also warned.
"We need to do further safety analysis and prove we can make it at scale."
"We need billion of doses, of course," he added.
Meanwhile global stock markets have risen sharply after positive news about a coronavirus vaccine.
The FTSE 100 was more than 5 per cent up in the early afternoon, after the revelation.
FTSE jumps more than 3% as Pfizer says vaccine found to be over 90% effective .... pic.twitter.com/bYqP6n6NTc
— Richard Fletcher (@fletcherr) November 9, 2020
Shares were also boosted after the confirmation of Joe Biden as the next US president.
