In a year that has largely been full of bad and tragic news because of COVID-19, there is finally some good news. Scientists have announced a breakthrough in the fight against the virus. The scientists are from the U.S. drug company Pfizer and the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech. Their researchers say they have developed a vaccine that has a 90 per cent success rate in protecting against COVID-19. The researchers also say the vaccine does not cause serious side effects. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the USA's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the vaccine was positive news. He said: "The results are really quite good, I mean extraordinary."
Health experts say it will be months before the vaccine is widely available for people to take. It needs to be stored at temperatures of -80º Celsius. However, Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla was upbeat about his company's achievement. He said: "Today is a great day for science and humanity....We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most." He added: "Infection rates are setting new records, hospitals are nearing over-capacity and economies are struggling to reopen. With today's news, 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."
