New York, November 20: United States drugmaker Pfizer Inc on Friday asked the US regulators to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine, which has shown 95 per cent efficacy, against the deadly virus. Pfizer has sought for the emergency use of its coronavirus vaccine as its doses could be available by next month. However, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not taken any decision yet. Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Found 95% Effective in Final Analysis, Says Company in Joint Statement With BionTech.

The development came days after the American pharmaceutical giant announced that its vaccine against COVID-19 was found to be 95 percent effective in the final analysis. The updated efficacy rate was issued a couple of days after Pfizer had delighted the scientific community, and the world at large, by announcing that their vaccine is "90 percent effective", based on the preliminary study of phase 3 trial data. Pfizer's submission also includes safety data on approximately 100 children aged 12-15 years.

Tweet by Pfizer: 

Pfizer and another US company, Moderna, have broken all vaccine development speed records in their race for a cure over the last nine months. US regulators are standing by for the approval process while coronavirus cases are surging to record levels across all the 50 states. Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine 94.5% Effective in Phase 3 Trials, Likely to Receive Emergency Use Approval From US FDA.

The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee in the US Food and Drug Administration is a key player in how this process rolls along. On Monday, Moderna Inc had announced a 94.5 percent efficacy rate of the mRNA-based vaccine, which it is developing in the United States.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 20, 2020 07:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).