New Pfizer results: Coronavirus vaccine is safe and 95% effective

The drugmaker Pfizer said on Wednesday that its coronavirus vaccine was 95% effective and had no serious side effects — the first set of complete results from a late-stage vaccine trial as COVID-19 cases skyrocket around the globe.

The data showed that the vaccine prevented mild and severe forms of COVID-19, the company said. And it was 94% effective in older adults, who are more vulnerable to developing severe COVID-19 and who do not respond strongly to some types of vaccines.

Pfizer, which developed the vaccine with its partner BioNTech, said the companies planned to apply to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization “within days,” raising hopes that a working vaccine could soon become a reality.

The trial results — less than a year after researchers began working on the vaccine — shattered all speed records for vaccine development, a process that usually takes years.

“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,” Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chief executive, said in a statement.

If the FDA authorizes the two-dose vaccine, Pfizer has said that it could have up to 50 million doses available by the end of the year, and up to 1.3 billion by the end of next year.

However, only about half of its supply will go to the

United States this year, or enough for about 12.5 million people — a sliver of the U.S. population of 330 million. Americans will receive the vaccine for free, under a $1.95 billion deal that the federal government reached with Pfizer for 100 million doses.

Pfizer and BioNTech’s trial included nearly 44,000 volunteers, half of whom received the vaccine. The other half received a placebo shot of salt water.

The companies said that out of 170 cases of COVID-19, 162 were in the placebo group, and eight were in the vaccine group. Out of 10 cases of severe COVID-19, nine had received a placebo.

Pfizer and BioNTech said that the vaccine’s efficacy was consistent across age, race and ethnicity. The most common serious adverse event was fatigue.