FDA posts positive review of Pfizer vaccine data; feds passed up chance to lock in more doses
WASHINGTON (AP) — Documents released by U.S. regulators Tuesday confirmed that Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine was strongly protective against COVID-19 — offering the world’s first detailed look at the evidence behind the shots.
The Food and Drug Administration posted its analysis online even as across the Atlantic, Britain on Tuesday began vaccinating its oldest citizens with the Pfizer-BioNTech shots.
But the U.S. judges experimental vaccines in a unique way: On Thursday, the FDA will convene what’s essentially a science court that will debate — in public and live-streamed — just how strong the data backing the shots really is.
A panel of independent scientists will pick apart the FDA’s first-pass review before recommending whether the vaccine appears safe and effective enough for millions of Americans. The FDA, which typically follows the committee’s advice, is expected to issue a decision in the days following the review. If given the green light, the first recipients would be health care workers and nursing home residents according to plans laid out by each state. Read more:
Here’s an update on all developments. Scroll or swipe further for in-depth coverage.
- President Donald Trump’s administration is facing new scrutiny Tuesday after failing to lock in a chance to buy millions of additional doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, which has shown to be highly effective against COVID-19.
- A retired British shop clerk received the first shot in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program Tuesday, signaling the start of a global immunization effort intended to offer a route out of a pandemic that has killed 1.5 million.
- President-elect Joe Biden’s choices for his health care team point to a stronger federal role in the nation’s COVID-19 strategy, restoration of a guiding stress on science and an emphasis on equitable distribution of vaccines and treatments.
- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem spent the weekend traveling out of state to appearances in Texas and Georgia, as she continued to build a national profile among Republicans even as her state deals with one of the nation’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus.
- Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday extended a partial shutdown of businesses and schools through Dec. 20, rejecting desperate appeals to lift a ban on indoor restaurant dining while the state tries to stop a wave of new coronavirus cases.
- A national train tour by Prince William and his wife Kate has received a frosty welcome from leaders in Wales and Scotland, with one Welsh official saying he would rather “no one was having unnecessary visits” during the coronavirus pandemic.
For more summaries and full reports, please select from the articles below. Scroll further for the latest virus numbers.
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