This comes exactly seven days after the panel, known as the
FDA Advisory Committee, recommended the now approved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
for emergency use authorisation.
It paves the way for the FDA to also authorise the Moderna
vaccine for urgent distribution to stop a virus that is spreading like wild
fire across the country.
Reports say 21 members of the independent panel of experts
voted yes, and one panelist abstained.
As was in Pfizer’s case, FDA officials are expected to
approve the panel’s recommendation as soon as Friday.
The U.S. government has said it is ready to immediately
distribute 5.9 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to no fewer than 3,000
sites nationwide.
The first phase of inoculations with the Pfizer/BioNTech
vaccine began on Monday across the country.