United States have approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to be used for nationwide immunization late Friday, with President Donald Trump promising the first immunizations would take place “in less than 24 hours.”
“I am authorizing the emergency use of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID‑19 Vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19,” Denise Hinton, the Food and Drug Administration’s chief scientist wrote in a letter to a Pfizer executive.
President Donald Trump released a video on Twitter after the announcement, where he commended the development.
“The first vaccine will be administered in less than 24 hours,” Trump said in a televised address released on Twitter.
“Through our partnership with FedEx and UPS, we have already begun shipping the vaccine to every state and zip code in the country,” he said, adding that governors would decide who would receive the shots first in their states.
The US is now the sixth country to approve the two-dose regimen, after Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.
It comes as infections in the world’s worst-hit country soar as never before, with the grim milestone of 300,000 confirmed deaths fast approaching.
