Moderna announces its covid-19 vaccine is 94.5% effective

The American biotech company Moderna announced in a statement Monday that its covid-19 vaccine is 94.5% effective in reducing the risk of contracting the disease, similar to the 90% efficacy announced last week by Pfizer. / BioNTech alliance.

This means that the risk of contracting COVID-19 was reduced by 94.5% in the vaccinated group compared to the placebo group in their large ongoing clinical trial in the United States.

The Director of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Monday that a vaccine will not be enough to defeat the pandemic

“A vaccine will complement the other tools we have, not replace them,” he said on the executive board of the agency he heads.

The CEO and other WHO officials have spent the past few days mitigating the optimism generated by Pfizer and BioNTech’s announcement that they have preliminary data on a Phase III vaccine that is 90% effective.

“Initially, the numbers will be limited, so healthcare workers, the elderly and those most at risk will have priority, and we hope this will reduce the number of deaths and allow health systems to resist,” the director said. general.

“But this will still leave a lot of room for the virus to act”, he warned, and consequently urged not to abandon measures that prevent the spread of the virus, such as tests, quarantines or compliance with health prevention measures.