The announcement earlier this week that Pfizer and BioNTech's SARS-CoV-2 vaccine appears effective may bode well for other, similar vaccines, the Verge reports.
"It's extremely encouraging, in my view, not only for the Pfizer vaccine, but broadly speaking for the platform," the University of Colorado's Ross Kedl tells it.
Based on an analysis of early data from their clinical trial, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their mRNA-based vaccine appears to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19. Scientists have cautioned, though, that number may change as additional data comes in.
The finding suggests that similar vaccines under development and testing by other companies could also be highly effective, the Verge writes. It notes that Moderna is expected to soon release data on its mRNA-based vaccine and that Moderna's results from earlier stage studies have hewed closely to those from Pfizer and BioNTech.
Further, the Verge notes that if these initial findings pan out, it could lead to a shift toward more gene-based vaccines, even beyond coronavirus.