eFM News

[Anchor]

Health experts and politicians have welcomed the news that an experimental coronavirus vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 infections.

Developed in the U.S. and Germany by Pfizer and BioNTech, the vaccine has so far shown no serious safety concerns.

But experts warn that caution is still needed.

The BBC's Pallab Ghosh reports.

[Reporter]

The promising results don't mark the beginning of the end of the pandemic, but the start of a long and difficult journey to slowly get us back to a more normal life.

The safety of the Pfizer vaccine still has to be demonstrated before it gets regulatory approval.

Then there are the issues of who gets it and how best to use it.

This would depend on some of the scientific questions that remain, whether the vaccine is able to stop transmission rather than just prevent disease, how long immunity lasts and whether it works with older people.