Pfizer-BioNTech says COVID-19 vaccine is more than 94% effective on adults over 65

The coronavirus vaccine being produced by Pfizer and BioNTech has been proved 95% efficient overall, with successful in adults aged over 65 years at 94%, the companies said on Wednesday.

The US and German pharmaceuticals companies said the candidate now met the safety criteria required for emergency authorisation.

They plan to offer the vaccine to the US controls for emergency use approval, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), “within days”.

The organisations require to create internationally up to 50 million vaccine treatments in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

“Pfizer is positive in its vast knowledge, expertise and existing cold-chain infrastructure to distribute the vaccine throughout the world,” it said.

Primary efficacy analysis shows BNT162b2 to be 95% effective against COVID-19 beginning 28 days after the first dose.

Of the members involved in the primary effectiveness analysis, 95% were shielded from the virus in just 28 days of the first shot of the vaccine — this number increased from the 90% stated by Pfizer from the results of Phase 3 trials.

Among over 43,000 members enlisted in the experiments, the organisations announced the vaccine was “well endured over all groups” with “no dangerous protection matters observed”.

They said 3.8% of people experienced fatigued and 2% endured headaches. It happened after US biotech firm Moderna announced on Monday that, based on preceding data, their potential COVID-19 vaccine had been considered to be 94.5% effective at preventing people from getting the virus.

Ursula von der Leyen, the leader of the EU Commission, announced the EU would approve an agreement to acquire up to 300 million shots of the BioNTech and Pfizer vaccine after “running day and night to secure doses of potential vaccines” in recent months.

The EU has admitted to a preliminary 160 million doses of the Modern vaccine in its exploratory discussions with the corporation, which could be achieved soon, a spokesman for the health commissioner said on Tuesday.