Vaccine results show we can end the pandemic, but hurdles lie ahead

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

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 week’s 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 – at least according to interim findings. That was the vaccine from US firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. Then came the results – albeit in a smaller sample – from Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. And on Monday, US firm Moderna …