The new coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer is said to be 95 percent effective as well as having no major side effects. The data from the first set of trials concluded that the vaccine is able to fight mild and severe forms of COVID-19. Test results have shown that the vaccine is 94 percent effective in older adults who are more prone to severe forms of Coronavirus.

Pfizer has developed the vaccine along with their partner BioNTech. The trial conducted by Pfizer and BioNTech included almost 44,000 volunteers. The two companies plan on submitting the vaccine to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to release the vaccine to the public within days. Many expected the process for developing a coronavirus vaccine to take years, but Pfizer’s researchers have made record time. Jesus Mozo, junior, expresses his eagerness about the vaccine, “I’m beyond ecstatic that these recent study results from Pfizer could potentially introduce a vaccine that could end this devastating pandemic.” By the end of the year, Pfizer could have up to 50 million doses available, and by the end of 2021, they can have up to 1.3 billion doses available. Pfizer plans to allocate 12.5 of the 50 million available doses to the United States who has a population of over 330 million people. The American federal government and Pfizer have reached a $1.95 billion consensus to let Americans receive the vaccine for free. 

On Monday, the drug developer Moderna reported their company’s vaccine is 94.5% effective, 0.5% less effective than Pfizer’s vaccine. The National Institute of Health worked with Moderna scientists to produce a vaccine that can be applied for emergency authorization by the FDA. “The sooner the better” says junior Brennan Ross, who thinks this “mess” has dragged on long enough.