An independent advisory panel voted on Thursday in favor of recommending that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, Stat News reports.
The 17-4 vote came after a lengthy meeting in which the panel of experts discussed whether the benefits of the vaccine candidate outweighed the risks for patients age 16 and up, reports NBC News. The vote was a key step on the path to FDA approval — while the FDA isn't obligated to follow the panel's recommendation, it is widely expected to authorize the vaccine and allow for the nation's existing doses to be distributed to priority groups, namely health care workers and long-term care facility residents. The Pfizer vaccine has already been approved for use in the U.K., Saudi Arabia, Canada and Bahrain. Read more at Stat News and NBC News.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for October 20Cartoons Monday’s political cartoons include a $40 billion bailout for Argentina, Prince Andrew's titles, chaos at the CDC, and more
-
From Da Vinci to a golden toilet: a history of museum heistsIn the Spotlight Following the ‘spectacular’ events at the Louvre, museums are ‘increasingly being targeted by criminal gangs’
-
Can Gen Z uprisings succeed where other protest movements failed?Today's Big Question Apolitical and leaderless, youth-led protests have real power but are vulnerable to the strongman opportunist
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
