US company Moderna said on Monday its coronavirus vaccine candidate, according to early data, is nearly 95 percent effective, making it the second vaccine in the United States after Pfizer to have a stunningly high success rate. Both companies used a highly innovative and experimental approach to designing their vaccines. "It was one of the greatest moments of 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," said Dr. Tal Zacks, Moderna's chief medical officer. Last week, Pfizer announced that early data show its vaccine is more than 90 percent effective against the disease. In Moderna's trial, 15,000 study participants were given a placebo, which is a shot of saline that has no effect. Over several months, 90 of them developed COVID-19, with 11 developing severe forms of the disease. Another 15,000 participants were given the vaccine, and only five of them developed coronavirus. None of the five became severely ill. Moderna says it will apply to regulators in the US in the coming weeks. It expects to have 20 million doses available in the country. The company hopes to have up to one billion doses available for use around the world next year and is planning to seek approval in other countries too. — Agencies
