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The United States’ (US) Food and Drug Administration on Saturday authorised the emergency use approval of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in the country. This comes a day after a panel of experts advising the FDA gave its nod to Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for its emergency use approval in the US.
n a statement, the FDA said that Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which has shown to be 95 per cent effective in preventing the infection in a late-stage trial, can be given to people aged 16 and older.
“I am authorising the emergency use of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19,” Denise Hinton, FDA’s chief scientist, said.
The US has now become the fifth country in the world after the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to give its nod for emergency use authorisation to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
With this, it is expected that the US will soon begin a massive vaccination programme in the country and first doses will be given within days. It is expected that the first shots will be given to health workers and nursing home residents.
“The first vaccine will be administered in less than 24 hours,” US President Donald Trump said in a video posted on Twitter. “I am proud to say we have made sure this vaccine will be free for all Americans,” he added.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine has also applied for emergency use authorisation in India and the Centre is considering the application. Though experts have raised over Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine’s use in India, the American pharmaceutical firm has said that it looking for more opportunities to launch its COVID-19 vaccine in India.
“During this pandemic phase, Pfizer will supply this vaccine only through government contracts based on agreements with respective government authorities and following regulatory authorisation or approval,” the company has said.
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