Netanyahu
NetanyahuFlash 90

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded the the announcement that the Moderna coronavirus vaccine has a success rate of 94.5% Monday.

"Already in June I, along with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, instructed that an agreement be signed with Moderna for the supply of vaccines. Today, Moderna informed us that its vaccine has an efficacy of 94.5%. This is excellent news for the State of Israel," Netanyahu said.

"My goal is to bring as many vaccines as possible, from as many sources as possible, to as many citizens as possible – and as soon as possible," the prime minister added.

US-based pharmaceutical giant Moderna claimed earlier Monday that its coronavirus vaccine is 94.5% effective against the coronavirus – a claim which, if confirmed, would make the vaccine more effective than a vaccine developed by rival company Pfizer.

"These are obviously very exciting results," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, according to CNN. "It's just as good as it gets -- 94.5% is truly outstanding."

Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech claimed that their coronavirus vaccine is 90% effective – that is, after two doses were administered, the group exposed to the vaccine had 90% fewer symptomatic cases of the coronavirus as compared to the control group.

The Moderna tests included 30,000 participants, half of whom were given a placebo, and half of whom were given the vaccine. Of the control group, 90 became infected with the coronavirus, including 11 with severe cases of the virus.