Moderna has reported that their COVID-19 vaccine is 94.5% effective. The pharmaceutical company has included 30,000 participants in their trials. Half of their participants received the vaccine while the other 15,000 received a placebo. Over the course of the trial, only 90 contracted the virus. Of the 90 participants, only 11 developed severed forms of COVID-19. Furthermore, participants who received the vaccine experienced no serious side effects. Few participants experienced minor side effects like headaches and body aches.
"These are obviously very exciting results," Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
"It's just as good as it gets -- 94.5% is truly outstanding."
Moderna executives shared the results of their trials during a conference call on Sunday. Last week, Pfizer shared similar promising results. Their COVID-19 vaccine was reportedly more than 90% effective.
"It was one of the greatest moments in my life and my career. It is absolutely amazing to be able to develop this vaccine and see the ability to prevent symptomatic disease with such high efficacy," Moderna Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tal Zacks said.
News of a potential vaccine comes as the country experiences an uptick in confirmed COVID-19 cases. Last week, the U.S. reported more than one million coronavirus cases.
Moderna and Pfizer are pushing for emergency authorization of their vaccines. Both companies hope to deliver vaccines at the beginning of next year. At the end of 2021, Moderna and Pfizer hope to have 20 million vaccines through each of their companies.
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