US company Moderna has said its coronavirus vaccine is 94% effective with no significant safety concerns.

It is the second major international trial to report positive results after Pfizer said its candidate was more than 90% effective this day last week.

In a statement this morning, Moderna said it will apply to the US Federal Drug Administration for an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) in the coming weeks.

It said final approval would be based on a final analysis which will include a follow-up with patients after two months.

Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said the announcement marks a “pivotal moment in the development of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate.”

“Since early January, we have chased this virus with the intent to protect as many people around the world as possible,” he said.

“All along, we have known that each day matters. This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease.”

He said the next milestones for the vaccine will be the applications for Emergency Use Authorisation in the US, EU and elsewhere around the world in the coming weeks.

Trinity Professor Luke O’Neill said it’s a “great result” to see such positive announcements from both Pfizer and Moderna because they’re both based on the same technology.

“It means two completely separate companies have got the same outcome and it is independent of each other so that means this technology is reproducible and that gives us even more hope then,” he said.

Moderna said it is on track to have 20 million doses of the vaccine ready to ship in the US by the end of the year.

It expects to produce between 500 million and 1 billion doses around the world next year.