US FDA nod for Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine 'in days' after panel's support

The US Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it was working rapidly to issue an emergency use authorisation for Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine, with the first Americans set to be immunised as early as Monday or Tuesday. US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said regulatory authorisation should come within days.

A panel of outside advisers to the FDA on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to endorse emergency use of the vaccine, paving the way for the agency to authorize the shot for a country that has lost more than 285,000 lives to Covid-19.  Pfizer has asked the two-dose vaccine, developed with German partner BioNTech, be approved for use in people aged 16 to 85.

The agency has also notified the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Operation Warp Speed so that it can execute the plans for timely vaccine distribution.  The vaccine — shown to be 95% effective in preventing the disease — is already approved in Britain.