The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech appears to protect 94% of adults over 65 years old.

More data released from their continuing phase three trial suggests it works equally well in people of all ages and ethnicities.

The companies say they will now apply for authorization for emergency use of the jab in the US.

The trial involved 41,000 people worldwide. Half were given the vaccine and half a placebo.

Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech published preliminary data suggesting the vaccine offered 90% protection against Covid-19 and said there were no safety concerns.

This was followed by data on a vaccine made by US company Moderna suggesting nearly 95% protection and similarly promising results from trials of another developed in Russia, called Sputnik.

Wednesday’s data from Pfizer and BioNTech, which builds on last week’s data, suggests the vaccine is 95% effective based on 170 cases of Covid-19 developing in volunteers.

Just eight were in the group given the vaccine, suggesting it offers good protection. The rest of the cases were in the placebo group given a dummy jab.

In older adults, who are most at risk from the virus and have weaker immune systems, the vaccine worked as well as it did in younger people.

Scientists said the data was further encouraging news, with Prof Trudie Lang from the University of Oxford describing it as “a remarkable and very reassuring situation”.

“To go from identifying a new virus to having several vaccines at the point of applying for regulatory approval is an incredible milestone for science,” she said.

Although the full trial data has yet to be published, the companies say there have been no serious safety concerns.

But they did notice headaches and fatigue in about 2% of volunteers given the vaccine, although older people seemed to experience minimal side effects.

There is also evidence that the vaccine protects against severe Covid - but this is based on only 10 cases.

It’s still unclear how long protection from the vaccine lasts and if it stops people from transmitting the virus.

In the trial, 42% of all participants are from diverse ethnic backgrounds and 41% are aged between 56 and 85 years old.

Source: BBC
-Agencies