New York , December 12,2020: The US Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use on Friday for the prevention of coronavirus disease in individuals 16 years of age and older.
“The FDA’s authorization for emergency use of the first COVID-19 vaccine is a significant milestone in battling this devastating pandemic that has affected so many families in the United States and around the world,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, MD.
“This action follows an open and transparent review process that included input from independent scientific and public health experts and a thorough evaluation by the agency’s career scientists to ensure this vaccine met FDA’s rigorous, scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization”, he added.
According to The New York Times, this move means that many highly vulnerable people will begin receiving the vaccine within days. It further called the authorisation y the FDA as a ‘historic turning point’ as the US death toll from the Wuhan-originated virus nears 300,000.
The US would be the sixth country — after the UK, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico — to clear the vaccine. Other authorizations, including by the European Union, are expected within weeks. This move came after a sequence of events when the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, told FDA commissioner, Dr. Stephen Hahn, “to consider looking for his next job if he didn’t get the emergency approval done” according to a senior administration official.
The American daily further reported that Pfizer has a deal with the Trump administration to supply 100 million doses of the vaccine by next March where the shots will be free to the public.
The United States remains the worst-hit nations, with more than 15.8 million confirmed cases and over 294,000 fatalities.
