Warwick Professor says Covid-19 vaccine news is "very exciting"
A Professor at Warwick Medical School says today's announcement that a Covid-19 vaccine has proven 90% effective in immunising against the virus is "very exciting".
The results of the vaccine are based on final "stage three" human trials.
Speaking at a press conference today, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged caution, and warned people not to start relaxing their behaviour at a crucial time.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, lauded the vaccine developed by US drug giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech as "a very important scientific breakthrough".
The UK has procured 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine - with 10 million of those being manufactured and available to the UK by the end of the the year.
Prof Lawrence Young, Professor of Molecular Oncology, Warwick Medical School, said:
He acknowledged it was difficult to draw conclusions without all the information, but said it appears that the vaccine is able to protect against COVID-19 disease. The next step, in his view, is whether the vaccine can block virus infection and subsequent transmission.