The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine an emergency use authorization on Friday, paving the way for its imminent nationwide rollout.
“I authorize the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19,” Denise Hinton, the agency’s chief scientist, wrote in a letter to a Pfizer executive.
President Donald Trump said the first American vaccine will be delivered “in less than 24 hours.”
“The first vaccine will be delivered in less than 24 hours,” Trump said in a televised speech posted on Twitter.
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020
“Through our partnership with FedEx and UPS, we have already started shipping the vaccine to every state and zip code in the country,” he said, adding that governors would decide who would get the vaccines first in their states.
“We want our senior citizens, healthcare workers and first responders to be first in line,” Trump said. “This will quickly and dramatically reduce deaths and hospitalizations.”
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