Late Thursday afternoon, Dec. 10, an advisory panel from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave its endorsement to BNT162b2, the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE to treat COVID-19. The Associated Press (AP) reported the move and called it major step toward an “epic vaccination campaign,” aimed at quelling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Panel members voted convincingly on whether to give the endorsement in a 17-4 vote with one abstention.
The AP reports that the FDA is expected to hand down a final decision for emergency authorization within days, effectively giving the green light for millions of doses of the vaccine to ship out and begin inoculations. Nursing home residents and front line health care workers will be first to receive the vaccine.
The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee recorded the entire meeting which can be seen online in its entirety. Voting results can be seen beginning at 8:36:00 of the video.
