Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is 94.5 percent effective in early analysis

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Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate is 94.5 percent effective, according to early data released by the company in a press release. That’s slightly higher than the efficacy reported by Pfizer and BioNTech; they announced a 90 percent efficacy for their vaccine candidate last week. Both Moderna and Pfizer said they plan to ask the Food and Drug Administration for authorization within a few weeks.
The data still hasn’t been published or reviewed by outside experts. These efficacy readings are higher than many experts were expecting, though. The FDA said it’s looking for vaccines that were at least 50 percent effective.
“Aspirationally, you would like to see 90, 95 percent, but I wasn’t expecting it. I thought we’d be good, but 94.5…

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