Daniel M. Davis, professor of Immunology at The University of Manchester said: "This is a watershed moment. For the first time, there is evidence that one of the possible vaccines for COVID-19 can protect people from the disease.
"It's still early days, and it is important to remember that there are caveats: we need to be able scrutinise the data independently, and we don’t yet know how long immunity may last for.
"The safety data isn’t yet sufficiently robust so the vaccine can't be formally approved at the moment," he added. "And this type of vaccine also poses particular problems for distribution around the world because it has to be stored at very cold temperatures.
"But despite these issues, this is an enormously thrilling moment. As a scientist, I am nervous of over-hyping a medical breakthrough, but this is genuinely a big moment for humankind. This also bodes very well for other candidate vaccines which are undergoing similar tests in people now. At last, it feels like we are turning a corner."
University of Manchester www.manchester.ac.uk
