The COVID-19
vaccine jointly developed by American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and German
biotechnology firm BioNTech showed 90% effectiveness in preventing the
infection in the Phase 3 trials, the companies said on Monday.

According
to preliminary findings, it took patients 28 and seven days respectively to get
inoculated after they were administered the first and doses, AFP reported.

“The first
set of results from our Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial provides the initial
evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent COVID-19,” read a statement from
Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla.   

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The
analysis looked at the first 94 confirmed infections among over 43,000 volunteers
who were either given the two doses or a placebo, according to a CNN report. The
results showed that fewer than 10% of the infections were found in patients who
were given the vaccine.

Pfizer said
it planned to seek authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
for emergency use after patients complete two months following the
administration of the second dose of the vaccine, in line with an earlier FDA directive.

The firm
said it was slated to complete that timeline by the third week of November. The
FDA has also set a minimum 50% efficacy threshold for any coronavirus vaccine.  

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For the
third phase of the trails, Pfizer has enrolled 43,538 since July 27, 38,955 of
which have received the second dose of the vaccine as of Sunday.

“With
today’s news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the
world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global
health crisis,” Bourla added in his statement.

Pfizer has
said it will also determine whether the vaccine can provide long-term protection
from COVID-19, as well as help recover patients from severe stages of the
infection.