The US Food and Drug Administration has given its approval to the coronavirus vaccine developed by Moderna for emergency use.
The vaccine is the second one to be approved after Pfizer and BionNTech boosting America’s vaccination roll out.
After the approval, the US government will be distributing 5.9 million doses of the vaccine in the next few weeks.
“We likely will see shots in the arm by the very early part of next week, I would hope Monday or Tuesday,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in an interview.
US President Donald Trump also lauded the approval of the second vaccine. “Congratulations, the Moderna vaccine is now available!” he said in a tweet.
“With the availability of two vaccines now for the prevention of COVID-19, the FDA has taken another crucial step in the fight against this global pandemic that is causing vast numbers of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States each day,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said in a statement.
