Moderna Inc. says it will ask U.S. and European regulators to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine as new study results confirm the shots offer strong protection. 

Moderna is just behind Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech in seeking to begin vaccinations in the U.S. in December.

The Massachusetts company revealed the new results Monday. It says of 196 COVID-19 cases so far in its huge U.S. study, only 11 were trial participants who received the real vaccine.

Thirty people got severely ill, and all of them got the placebo.

According to a news release from the company, the vaccine is 94% effective. The statement says for those who have gotten the vaccine and are infected with coronavirus, the vaccine is 100% effective at preventing the case from becoming serious.

The company said it expects the FDA to meet to review the safety and efficacy of the vaccine on Thursday, December 17th.

Moderna expects to have 20 million doses of the vaccine by the end of 2020, and says it's on track to manufacture 500 million to 1 billion doses globally in 2021.