Pfizer to apply for emergency U.S. authorization within days for its COVID-19 vaccine

Final results from Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine trial showed its shot had a 95 percent success rate and two months of safety data, paving the way for the drugmaker to apply for an emergency U.S. authorization within days, it said on Wednesday.

The vaccine’s efficacy rate, the highest of any candidate in late-stage clinical trials so far, was welcomed by experts who had already said that interim results showing Pfizer’s shot was over 90 percent effective were very encouraging.

Pfizer said there were 170 cases of COVID-19 in its trial of more than 43,000 volunteers and only eight people with the disease had been given the shot rather than a placebo, meaning the vaccine had a 95 percent efficacy rate.