The worst is over for beleaguered tourism and aviation firms as Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trials draw to their conclusion with the end of the year. While herd immunity (i.e. 70% population immunity) will likely have to wait until 2023, such counters will likely enjoy a “higher-low” pullback in stock prices as the global population is slowly immunised from the coronavirus.
Of the ten currently under trial so far, Pfizer-BioNTech’s appears to have the most promise. It announced that their candidate demonstrated a higher-than-expected 90% efficacy with no side effects thus far. The trial will require another month to complete, but DBS sees this as the beginning of an anticipated stream of Phase 3 trial outcomes, with SinoPharm, Moderna and AstraZeneca looking to complete their trials by end-2020 with more to follow in 1Q2021.
