Promising early results from vaccine trials offer hope of defeating covid-19, but vaccines may be less effective in the real world and people’s safety concerns could hamper take-up
Health
| Leader
18 November 2020
WHAT a difference a week makes. In about that time, we have gone from having little more than hope that a coronavirus vaccine would work, to having promising results from not one but three trials.
As last weekтАЩs issue went to press, we had just heard the news that a vaccine candidate in late-stage human trials seems to be safe and effective тАУ at least according to interim findings. That was the vaccine from US firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. Then came the results тАУ albeit in a smaller sample тАУ from RussiaтАЩs Sputnik V vaccine. And on Monday, US firm Moderna тАж