Mubasher: Pfizer and BioNTech said on Wednesday that a final data analysis found their coronavirus vaccine was 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 and appeared to fend off severe disease, according to CNBC.

The drugmakers said the vaccine, called BNT162b2, was highly effective against the virus 28 days after the first dose, and its effectiveness was consistent across all ages, races, and ethnicities.

Additionally, the elderly, who are seen as at high risk of severe illness from the coronavirus, saw vaccine effectiveness of more than 94%.

BioNTech CEO, Ugur Sahin, said, “The data indicates that our vaccine ... is able to induce a high rate of protection against COVID-19 only 29 days after the first dose. In addition, the vaccine was observed to be well-tolerated in all age groups with mostly mild to moderate side effects, which may be due in part to the relatively low dose.”

The news comes over a week after the two companies announced that their vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective and two days after Moderna said preliminary phase three trial data showed its vaccine was 94.5% effective.

Pfizer said it plans to submit an application for emergency use authorisation to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within days. The companies expect to produce up to 50 million doses this year and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.