*WHO Chief says the world is experiencing unprecedented scientific innovation and collaboration to end the pandemic

*We see the light at the end of the tunnel on virus vaccine, says Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it welcomed as “encouraging” Pfizer and BioNTech’s recent announcement that their vaccine has in trials proved 90 percent effective in preventing the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections.

The drug manufacturers Monday, November 9, 2020, had disclosed that the vaccine they had jointly developed, during Phase 3 trials, provided protection to nearly all patients seven days after the second of two vaccine doses.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, in a tweet stated: “We welcome the encouraging vaccine news from @Pfizer & @BioNTech_Group & salute all scientists & partners around the who are developing new safe, efficacious tools to beat #COVID19.

“The world is experiencing unprecedented scientific innovation & collaboration to end the pandemic.”

Agency report indicates that as of mid-October 2020, WHO had identified 42 “candidate vaccines” at the stage of clinical trials, up from 11 in mid-June.

Ten of them were at the most advanced phase 3 stage, in which a vaccine’s effectiveness is tested on a large scale, generally tens of thousands of people across several continents.

WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan, in a tweet Monday also said the news from Pfizer and BioNTech should “encourage all developers of #COVID19 vaccines to continue with clinical trials.”

Swaminathan stated: “The world needs several safe, effective & affordable vaccines to end this pandemic.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada has disclosed that he was encouraged by Pfizer and BioNTech’s announcement that their COVID-19 vaccine in trials proved 90 percent effective, adding it could be available in Canada in early 2021.

The two pharmaceutical companies said the vaccine they have jointly developed had during Phase 3 trials provided protection to nearly all patients seven days after the second of two vaccine doses.

Report said Trudeau called the results “promising.”

He stated: “We see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The Canadian Prime Minister noted that he expects the vaccine to be distributed to Canadians “most likely in the first three months of 2021.”

“But, there is a lot of uncertainty involved in these processes.”

Canada signed a deal with US giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech in August for a minimum of 20 million doses of their vaccine.

It was at the time the most advanced vaccine candidate in development among several of which Canada secured access.

Other agreements were signed with AstraZeneca, Sanofi and GSK, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson, Medicago and Moderna for a total of more than 300 million doses for its population of 38 million.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine poses some “logistical distribution” challenges, including that it must be stored at very cold temperatures, and therefore, getting it to Canadians will be “more complex and slightly more limiting.”

“We are already working on those necessary logistical supports,” he said.

Trudeau also said that testing of several other vaccine candidates was “progressing well” and some of those could be rolled out in early 2021 too.

Until then, he encouraged Canadians to continue to take precautions to limit the spread of the COVID-19 illness, including physical distancing and wearing masks.