As the total cases of coronavirus in the world touch 52 million, with India's overall tally alone standing at 8.6 million, in this dire time, the progress in the COVID vaccine candidate being developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech is certainly a very welcoming news.

The pharma giants have revealed that their COVID-19 vaccine candidate — BNT162b2 was more than 90 percent efficient against infections in participants without prior infections.

Although the results are yet to be approved by US drug regulator FDA, the pharma company said it was hopeful about being able to produce up to 50 million vaccine doses globally by the end of 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

But what does this announcement exactly mean? Are we close to developing a COVID vaccination? How long before it becomes available in India? Tune in to The Big Story!

Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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