Early tests suggest this COVID-19 vaccine 90% effective

There was some encouraging news this week in the fight against COVID-19 as vaccine developer Pfizer and its collaborator BioNTech released early study results showing their vaccine prevents 90% of COVID-19 infections.

For parents who have been worried about the pandemic’s impact on their kids’ education and quality of life, the news is more than welcome. Some experts agree.

“You have to be pleasantly surprised,” Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of vaccinology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, tells USA Today.

Jean-Paul Soucy, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, tells CBC News the announcement is “fantastic news (and) very encouraging,” but adds there are still questions to be answered.

Soucy doesn’t want people to get their hopes up too high. Vaccines against COVID-19 are not expected to be available until 2021, but this positive report does suggest that Pfizer will likely be among the first vaccine developers to get to the finish line.