NEW YORK – Drug maker Pfizer says early data shows its COVID-19 vaccine has an effective rate of more than 90-percent.
That’s a much better than expected efficacy if the trend continues. The so-called interim analysis looked at the first 94 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the more than 43,000 volunteers.
The volunteers got either two doses of the vaccine or a placebo. The data found that fewer than 10-percent of infections were in participants who had been given the vaccine.
More than 90-percent of the cases were in people who had been given a placebo.
The final goal of the trial is to reach 164 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection.
Pfizer said in a news release it anticipates seeking emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the third week of November.
The company says it expects to have more than a billion doses manufactured next year and it would be free to Americans.
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