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The biotechnology company Moderna on Monday reported preliminary trial data indicating its COVID-19 vaccine candidate is 94.5% effective—progress that has the support of the ���ϳԹ��� of ���ϳԹ��� and UPMC.

Moderna has been working with the city of ���ϳԹ��� and other major U.S. cities on its Phase 3 clinical trial. ���ϳԹ��� 250 people from the ���ϳԹ��� region have received either the two-shot Moderna vaccine or placebo.

“It’s a great day for science,” said , who is leading the efforts in ���ϳԹ���. “Over 250 ���ϳԹ���ers were willing to roll up their sleeves and volunteer. And that’s what has led us to this efficacy rate that no one had ever dreamed of.”

Martin directs the at UPMC Children’s Hospital of ���ϳԹ��� and serves as a professor of at the ���ϳԹ��� of ���ϳԹ���. “We have a strong and wonderful team here at the ���ϳԹ��� Vaccine Trials Unit. Everyone has been pouring their heart and soul into this study, recruiting participants, enrolling and following them,” she said. “This is something we’ve been working toward for months now.”

The Moderna vaccine’s encouraging results come one week after the pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced early data from its own Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial. Pitt experts , shown in early trial data to be more than 90% effective against the disease, as well as the Moderna vaccine.

In comparing the two vaccine candidates, , associate professor in Pitt’s Division of Infectious Diseases, pointed out that the Moderna vaccine has one early advantage: It can be stored in conventional, rather than super-cold, freezers.

“Compared to the Pfizer vaccine, the storage requirements for the Moderna vaccine will be operationally easier to meet. Deployment and long-term use of COVID-19 vaccines will depend on all of these details,” said Snyder, who is also medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at UPMC.

He added: “As more vaccine developers share updates on stages of vaccine development—and to reiterate, it is historic that so many vaccine candidates are being developed so quickly—each of these vaccines will be different in the details of their clinical parameters as well as requirements for storage and distribution.”

Like the Pfizer vaccine candidate, the Moderna vaccine still has a ways to go before it can be offered to the general public.

“This is just very early interim analysis looking to see if it’s working,” said Martin. “We’re still looking for more safety data. All this data has to be presented to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before there’s any decision on an Emergency Use Authorization or approval. We have many steps to go still, but this is a very positive reinforcement that we’re doing the right thing.”

, associate professor of medicine and at Pitt, said with cases rising nationwide, including in Pennsylvania, the FDA can safely schedule a committee on approving vaccine candidates soon. And the race against the clock is real.   

“If you look at the state of the pandemic right now, and the exponential rise and the stress on the health care system … with the rate things are moving and the holidays, two or three weeks,  I think, makes a big difference right now.”

“Yes, these vaccines show promise, but is it over? Is it finished? Absolutely not,” said , director of Pitt’s , which is also working on its own vaccine candidate. “It’s not just about getting something across the line, getting something licensed, it’s about getting it made, it’s about getting it distributed.”