US panel recommends Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

A U.S. government visory panel has voted to endorse mass use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to help conquer outbreak that has killed close to 300,000 Americans.

meeting of outside visers to Food and Drug ministration represented next-to-last hurdle before expected start of biggest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. Depending on how fast FDA signs off on panel's recommendation, shots could begin within days.

FDA panel functions like a science court.

During scheduled daylong session, it debated and picked apart data - in public - on wher vaccine is safe and effective eugh to be cleared for emergency use.

With unprecedented interest in rmally obscure panel, FDA brocast meeting via Youtube, and thousands logged on.

FDA is t required to follow committee’s vice but is widely expected to do so. Once that happens, U.S. will begin shipping millions of doses of shot.

Later this month, FDA is expected to pass judgment on ar vaccine, developed by Moderna and National Institutes of Health, that has proved about as protective as Pfizer's. Vaccine candidates by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are also in pipeline.

meeting of experts on vaccine development, infectious diseases and medical statistics came as coronavirus continues surging across much of world, claiming more than 1.5 million lives, including about 290,000 in U.S.