모더나 이어 화이자도 "코로나 백신 95% 면역효과"…최종 결과

Some good news, a week after Pfizer and BioNTech revealed their final stage vaccine trial was over 90-percent effective against COVID-19,... their final analysis is showing even better numbers: 95-percent.
With no serious safety concerns reported,... the vaccine could be rolled out before Christmas.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
Pfizer and its Germany partner BioNTech could get their vaccine candidate approved for emergency authorization in the U.S. and Europe next month,... after its final trial results showed it had a 95-percent success rate without any serious side effects.
According to the drugmakers Wednesday,... the efficacy was found to be consistent throughout different age groups and ethnicities.
This includes those in the high-risk age group of 65 and older.
Among the over 43-thousand people in the final stage of the trial,... 170 contracted COVID-19,... with 162 of them given only a placebo shot.
Out of the 10 people who reported severe COVID-19 symptoms,... only one had received the vaccine.
The final analysis also showed it had a 94-percent efficacy rate among those over 65 years.
Armed with the results,... Pfizer says it will seek U.S. FDA emergency use authorization "within days".
The CEO of BioNTech says this means the vaccine could begin distribution to the U.S. and Europe next month.
"If everything goes well we could start to supply the vaccines to Europe and the United States in the second half of December and you can see that of course as a Christmas present but it is of course, of course, of course, most important, to answer all the questions and to get the approval first."
According to the drugmakers,... they'll produce 50 million doses in 2020,... and up to 1-point-3 billion next year.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.