On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Emergency Use Authorization to Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, the first vaccine that will be available for public use in the U.S. This is the first vaccine authorized to prevent Covid-19 infection in the United States, where the disease has killed more than 290,000 people, more than any other country in the world. It is an effective but new technology, and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the first mRNA vaccine that has been authorized by the FDA. While the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the first Covid-19 vaccine to be granted Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA, it won’t be the last. An mRNA vaccine from biotech company Moderna will be reviewed by the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee on December 17th, and FDA authorization could come soon after.

Source: Forbes December 12, 2020 02:24 UTC