Moderna vaccine trial shows 100% efficacy in dealing with severe Covid-19 infections

The new data was released as Moderna today submits its Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use approval in the United States.

New trial data shows that the vaccine is 94% effective in preventing the disease, findings that are consistent with the initial data from their Phase 3 clinical trial.

The Phase 3 trial involved over 30,000 participants and the new findings shows it to be 100% effective at preventing severe Covid-19 disease.

The new findings show that there were zero severe COVID-19 cases among trial participants, but 30 in the placebo group.

Speaking about the vaccine's high success rate in preventing severe disease, CEO Stéphane Bancel said:

“We believe that our vaccine will provide a new and powerful tool that may change the course of this pandemic and help prevent severe disease, hospitalisations and death."

Moderna says these findings are consistent across various demographics, including gender, age and ethnicity.

Side-effects have been not been serious and include pain in the injection site, headaches, and fatigue.

Moderna says that it will make between 500 million and 1 billion doses of the vaccine globally in 2021. Now that Moderna has collected two months of safety data it today applies to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency usage authorisation. The company says that it has been told the FDA will meet on 17 December to consider the vaccine. It will seek similar approval from the European Medicines Agency. Moderna is one of three pharmaceuticals that have submitted a vaccine for regulatory approval following trials, alongside Pfizer and AstraZeneca.