Pfizer and BioNTech say their vaccine is ‘95% effective’ and has passed safety checks.
The US and German biotech firms, which are collaborating on the project, have said that the vaccine has passed phase three of trials, meeting “all primary efficacy endpoints.” Pfizer says it will be applying for approval from authorities in the US and EU “within days.”
Pfizer said Wednesday that new test results show its coronavirus vaccine is 95 percent effective, is safe and also protects older people most at risk of dying — the last data needed to seek emergency use of limited shot supplies as the catastrophic outbreak worsens across the globe.
The announcement from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, just a week after they revealed the first promising preliminary results, comes as the team is preparing to formally ask U.S. regulators to allow emergency use of the vaccine. Anticipating that, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel is on standby to publicly debate the data during the second week of December.
The companies also began “rolling submissions” for the vaccine with regulators in Europe, the U.K. and Canada.
“This is an extraordinarily strong protection,” Dr. Ugur Sahin, BioNTech’s CEO and co-founder, told The Associated Press.
[…] is said to be cheaper, requires simpler storage and is easier to transport than those developed by Pfizer and […]