Moderna will request authorization from the FDA for its covid-19 vaccine this Monday | CNN

CAMBRIDGE - FEBRUARY 28: Moderna in Cambridge, MA is pictured on Feb. 28, 2020. Moderna has developed the first experimental coronavirus medicine, but an approved treatment is more than a year away.

(Photo by David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

(CNN) -

The pharmaceutical company Moderna intends to apply this Monday to the US Food and Drug Administration for authorization of its vaccine against covid-19.

The company will ask the FDA to review an expanded data set showing that the vaccine is 94.1% effective in preventing COVID-19 and 100% effective in preventing severe cases of the disease.

LOOK: How do Moderna and Pfizer's coronavirus vaccines work?

"This is surprising," said Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA's vaccine advisory committee.

"These are amazing facts."

Another company, Pfizer, has already applied for FDA clearance for a coronavirus vaccine, with efficacy data very similar to Moderna's.

The FDA is expected to review the applications from both companies in December, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he expects the first vaccines in the US to be ready "by the end of December. ».

advertising

By the end of 2020, Moderna expects to have approximately 20 million doses of its vaccine available in the United States, and is on track to manufacture 500 to 1 billion doses globally next year, according to the company's press release. Monday.