FDA panel recommends emergency use authorisation for Pfizer vaccine in US; approval soon

An visory panel for US Food and Drug ministration (FDA) on Thursday recommended approval for emergency use of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

FDA's vaccine visory panel, comprising of independent scientific experts, infectious disease doctors and statisticians, voted 17 to 4, with one member favouring its emergency for people d 16 years or older.

ncy is expected to authorise vaccine in following days, prioritising health care workers and nursing home residents for receiving first shots of vaccine early next year.

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With this recommendation, nation may finally begin to slow spre of Coronavirus as both infections and fatalities have surged in country, reaching a record high of 3,000 daily deaths on Wednesday.

FDA is expected to grant an emergency use authorisation for Pfizer vaccine on Saturday, though last-minute legal or bureaucratic requirements could push anuncement to a later date.

Pfizer vaccine has been approved for public use in UK, Cana, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. US authorization of vaccine is likely to follow soon after one for Moderna's version, which uses similar techlogy and has also shown promising results in clinical trials.

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Difficult for US to achieve herd immunity

Operation Warp Speed, Trump ministration's multi-billion-dollar program for vaccine development, h pre-ordered 100 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine in July and heavily backed development and manufacturing of Moderna's vaccine in US.

However, country needs to vaccinate at least 70% of population to achieve herd immunity, which will take time, even if vaccine is widely accepted.

"I think data was pretty compelling that benefits greatly outweigh risks. I wish re could have been slightly more enrollment of mirities in trial. But I think numbers were sufficient to make a decision," Dr. James Hildreth, a member of FDA visory committee said told CNN.

"We kw at least in tens of thousands of people followed for two months, it doesn't have any serious, verse events. ... I think we kw eugh w to say that this appears to be our way out of this awful, awful mess," said Dr Paul Offit, ar member of committee.

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Pfizer's chairman pleased with expert panel's recommendation to FDA

Meanwhile, Pfizer's chairman & CEO was pleased on FDA's vaccine visers recommending ncy grant emergency use authorization for its coronavirus vaccine in US.

"We have been looking forward to presenting our robust data pack to committee of vaccine experts for US government since we began our efforts to develop a vel COVID-19 vaccine earlier this year," Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement to CNN.

Earlier this week, UK became first country in world to minister a vaccine against coronavirus, that was developed jointly by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech in a vaccination programme watched closely around world. After UK, Cana became second country to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for its citizens.

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(With inputs from ncy)