COVID-19 vaccine
COVID-19 vaccineiStock

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer now claims that its coronavirus vaccine being tested is 95% effective, above the previous estimate of 90%.

The latest test results showed no signs of serious side effects, the company said, with the late-stage vaccine trials showing an improved level of effectiveness of 95%, including 94% among the elderly.

Pfizer is reportedly just days away from filing an application with the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization for the two-dose coronavirus vaccine.

Last week, preliminary results showed the Pfizer – BioNTech vaccine for the coronavirus to be 90% effective.

The initial study showed that among the 43,538 total participants, seven days after the second dose was administered - and 28 days after the first dose - the vaccinated group was found to have 90% fewer symptomatic cases of the coronavirus than the control group.

Days later, a rival company, Moderna, announced that its coronavirus vaccine had been rated as being 94.5% effective.

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.