Moderna said that Phase 3 stage analysis suggested its coronavirus vaccine could prevent Covid-19. The news comes a week after Pfizer and German drug-maker BioNTech announced a vaccine of their own.

US pharmaceutical firm Moderna announced on Monday that early analysis of its Covid-19 vaccine suggested that it was as much as 94.5% effective.

"This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent Covid-19 disease, including severe disease," said Stephane Bancel, Moderna's CEO. 

The news comes a week after its competitor Pfizer announced that its Covid-19 vaccine, made by Germany’s BioNTech, had reached 90% effectiveness, with Russian researchers claiming similar success for its Sputnik V vaccine later that same day.

Moderna's vaccine announcement comes as virus cases topped 11 million in the US over the weekend, with one million recorded in just the past week.  

The pandemic has killed more than 1.3 million people worldwide, more than 245,000 of them in the U.S. 

Moderna said it was confident it would receive emergency approval for its vaccine from US authorities in December. 

Negotiations are underway between the EU and Moderna to secure up to 160 million vaccine doses. 

Higher storage temperature 

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are based on a new platform called messenger RNA, which is faster to produce than traditional vaccines. 

Moderna's vaccine was co-developed by the US National Institutes of Health and consists of two doses 28 days apart.  

The company announced that its vaccine can remain stable at standard refrigerator temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30 days. Pfizer's vaccine, on the other hand, needs to be stored in deep-freezer conditions which could complicate supply chain logistics