New vaccine breakthrough lifts global hope against pandemic

WASHINGTON: Global hopes of overcoming the coronavirus pandemic were boosted on Monday after a second vaccine was found to be nearly 95 percent effective, bringing much-needed optimism to a world facing surging infections and a raft of new restrictions.

The news from the US biotech firm Moderna comes after similar results were announced last week for a vaccine candidate developed by pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

European stock markets surged on Monday on the hopeful news, building on a boom sparked by the Pfizer news one week ago. Yet with neither vaccine likely to be widely available for months, governments around the world are still moving forward with unpopular but life-saving restrictions on free movement, gatherings and business.

Globally, infections have soared past 54 million with more than 1.3 million deaths. Moderna, whose results stem from a clinical trial of more than 30,000 participants, plans to apply for emergency approval of its vaccine and expects to have approximately 20 million doses ready to ship in the US by the end of the year.

"This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease," said Stephane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO.

Like the Pfizer candidate, the vaccine involves injecting the body with strands of genetic instructions called "messenger RNA", which tell cells how to fight the coronavirus. While the breakthrough opens a chink of light at the end of the tunnel, experts caution there are still difficult and dangerous months ahead.

"A vaccine on its own will not end the pandemic," warned World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Supply will initially be limited to health care workers and other vulnerable populations, which could offer major help to hospital systems but will "still leave the virus with a lot of room to move," he said.

As scientists and pharma companies charge ahead on the vaccine front, governments are trying to slow the spread of the virus and protect strained hospital systems. In hard-hit Europe curbs have returned -- often in the face of protests -- from Greece to Britain, where PM and Covid-19 survivor Johnson was self-isolating out of precaution on Monday after coming into contact with an MP who later tested positive for the virus. Johnson said he would lead the virus response from Downing Street despite the fact "that I’ve had the disease and I’m bursting with antibodies" after being hospitalised in April.