The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, with the first inoculations expected within days, marking a turning point in the United States where the pandemic has killed more than 292,000 people.
The FDA granted an emergency use authorisation for the vaccine, developed with German partner BioNTech, which was shown to be 95 per cent effective in preventing the disease in a late-stage trial.
President Donald Trump said the first vaccine will be administered in “less than 24 hours”.
“Through our partnership with FedEx and UPS, we have already begun shipping the vaccine to every state and zip code in the country,” he said in a video posted to Twitter on Saturday afternoon (AEDT), adding that governors would decide who would receive the shots first in their states.
“We want our senior citizens, health care workers and first responders to be first in line,” he said.
“This will quickly and dramatically reduce deaths and hospitalisations.”
The FDA said the vaccine can be given to people aged 16 and older.
More to come.
