Early Monday morning, Massachusetts-based company Moderna reported a 94.5 percent recovery rate from its new COVID-19 vaccine trial. The company has only released early data from its trial, which means there is more work to be done before the vaccine is proven to be effective. However, just days after Pfitzer and BioNTech announced similar results from a different vaccine, these positive results present a glimmer of hope during another COVID-19 wave across the country. 

Moderna took 30,000 volunteers, 25 percent of which were 65 or older, and 63 percent white, 20 percent Hispanic, 10 percent Black and 4 percent Asian American. Half of the patients were given the Moderna vaccine, while the other half were given a placebo. 

“Over time, some of the volunteers got sick with Covid-19. To get a preliminary sense of how the trial was going, an independent board of experts took a look at the first 95 participants who got sick. Ninety of them had received the placebo, and only five had been given the vaccine,” said science writer Carl Zimmer.

Only 11 participants who had COVID-19 experienced severe symptoms, and those 11 were all given the placebo. None of the patients died, and the five vaccinated patients that had COVID-19 were asymptomatic. Based on that data, the vaccine was proven to be 94.5 percent effective in fighting against COVID-19. 

Many states are facing shutdowns similar to the shutdowns in March and April due to thousands upon thousands of new COVID-19 cases everyday. Though this vaccine is good news, it is likely to be months before it is open to the public. If given the green light by the F.D.A., the vaccine will first be given to at-risk people by the beginning of next year. By the time it is widely available to the public, it will be late winter or early spring.