Pfizer, along with its German partner BioNTech on Wednesday jacked up the efficacy score of its COVID-19 vaccine from 90 to 95 percent.
The new score has placed the effectiveness of the vaccine ahead of Moderna’s 94.5%.
Pfizer in the statement issued in New York and Mainz Germany said the vaccine had no serious side effects — and that it will be submitted for regulatory approval “within days.”
The US drugmaker and its German partner BioNTech announced that their vaccine is even more effective at preventing the disease than what they previously thought last week.
After completing their Phase 3 trial, the companies said there have been no serious side effects among the 41,135 adults who received two doses.
The most common reactions were that 3.7 percent of them experienced fatigue and 2 percent had a headache, they said.
“The study results mark an important step in this historic eight-month journey to bring forward a vaccine capable of helping to end this devastating pandemic,” Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said in the statement.
“With hundreds of thousands of people around the globe infected every day, we urgently need to get a safe and effective vaccine to the world,” he added.
Pfizer and BioNTech analyzed 170 confirmed cases among the roughly 40,000 people involved in the trial.
Just eight people who were given the jab got sick, compared with 162 who were given a placebo, according to the network.
Last week, the data looked at 94 confirmed cases and showed 90 percent efficacy.
Pfizer said it plans to manufacture 50 million doses — which must be kept at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit — this year and 1.3 billion in 2021, at facilities in Missouri, Massachusetts, Michigan and Belgium.