The vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer can be up to 90% effective in preventing COVID-19, the pharmaceutical company itself assured this Monday.
With this, the company could file a request for emergency use with the United States health regulators later this month,
The announcement does not mean the vaccine is imminent
.
This interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, examined 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has recruited nearly 44,000 people in the United States and five other countries.
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Pfizer did not provide further details on those cases, warning that the initial protection rate could change by the time the study ends.
Even the disclosure of that initial data is highly unusual.
"We are in a position to offer some hope," Dr. Bill Gruber, Pfizer's senior vice president of clinical development, told The Associated Press.
"We are very excited," he added.
[The world exceeds 50 million cases of coronavirus]
Authorities have emphasized that any vaccine is unlikely to arrive long before the end of the year and that the limited initial supplies will be rationed.
Vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are among the top 10 potential vaccine candidates in advanced testing worldwide;
four of them so far in huge studies in the US Another American company, Moderna Inc., has also said it hopes to apply to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) later this month.
With information from AP.