Breaking News: Two possible vaccines for COVID-19 that have yielded results from their clinical trials

Two COVID-19 vaccines have published early successful data from their trials — Moderna’s vaccine and Pfizer’s vaccine. 

Pfizer — working alongside German company BioNTech — released the early data from their clinical trial on Nov. 9, boosting it up in the public eye alongside Moderna. The developmental vaccine has had a 90% success rate.

Moderna announced on Nov. 16 that they had a nearly 95% success rate in their developmental vaccine, and that they will continue testing to ensure the safety and effectiveness.

According to The New York Times, Pfizer and Moderna are the most promising possible vaccines for COVID because of their effectiveness and way they are being created. Moderna and Pfizer are the only two companies making the vaccine with mRNA.

Moderna’s announcement about their vaccine provided many details toward the trial. There were 300,000 volunteers in the study — 25% of which were 65 years of age or older. White people made up 63%, Hispanic made up 20% and Black was 10%. 

“The scientists randomly assigned volunteers to get either the Moderna vaccine or a placebo. The trial was blinded, meaning that neither the volunteers nor the people running the trial knew who got what,” the article said.

As time passed, 95 of the volunteers contracted COVID — 11 of them being severe cases requiring medical attention. These 11 people were given the placebo, therefore not having protection from the virus. Five volunteers who were vaccinated got COVID as well, but all of which experienced mild symptoms, according to The New York Times.

According to the New York Times, Pfizer had 94 cases of their 44,000 volunteer trial, though they do not state the severity of the cases. The trial ran similarly to the Moderna trial, using a placebo to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine.

Even with these two developing vaccines and FDA approvals in the near future, professionals expect that widespread vaccines from any company will not take place until spring, according to The New York Times.