A vaccine being developed by Pfizer has been found to be more than 90 percent effective against Covid-19, the pharmaceutical company said.
The finding was the result of the first independent analysis of any Covid-19 vaccine in phase 3 trials, the final stage before commercial licensing.
The study found that 94 participants who received the two-dose vaccine were protected against the disease 28 days after their first inoculation.
The American firm developed the jab along with Germany’s BioNTech. The efficacy rate is significantly above the 50 percent effectiveness required by the US Food and Drug Administration for a coronavirus vaccine.
“Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent Covid-19,” said Dr Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and CEO.
“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen,” Dr Bourla added.
The company said it will share additional efficacy and safety data in the coming weeks. It said it expects to produce up to 1.3 billion doses of the vaccine next year.
In the United States, Pfizer expects to seek broad emergency use authorization of the vaccine for people aged 16 to 85. To secure this it will need to have collected two months of safety data on around half of the study's roughly 44,000 participants.
The company did not share precise detail on how many of those who fell ill received the vaccine.
Pfizer and BioNTech have a $1.95 billion contract with the US government to deliver 100 million vaccine doses beginning this year. The companies have also reached supply agreements with the European Union, the UK, Canada and Japan.
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