COVID-19: US Expert Panel Approves Emergency Use Of Pfizer Vaccine

Washington: An expert committee convened by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has voted heavily in favour of recommending the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use approval.

The final voting tally was 17 in favour, four against and one abstention on Thursday, news agency AFP reported.

The committee was tasked with answering whether, “based on the totality of scientific evidence available, do the benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outweigh its risk for use in individuals 16 years of age and older?”

The vote by the independent experts and researchers, including infectious disease specialists, biostatisticians and other scientists, isn’t binding, but the FDA is expected to follow the recommendation within the coming days.

Britain, Canada, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have already approved the vaccine, the first in the world to complete a large-scale, phase 3 clinical trials.

In India, Pfizer was the first to apply to the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) for emergency use approval for the vaccine.