U.S. seeks to secure vaccine supply as Britain starts first COVID-19 shots

[admin]

Progress toward a vaccine has offered a ray of hope in a pandemic that killed 15,000 people in the United States last week alone and has overwhelmed hospitals with intensive care patients. Pfizer is on the cusp of winning U.S. approval for the vaccine it developed with Germany's BioNTech, but Britain has already authorized the Pfizer vaccine, enabling Margaret Keenan to receive the first jab at her local hospital in Coventry, central England. The United States could soon follow as a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel of outside advisers will meet on Thursday to discuss whether to recommend emergency use authorization of the Pfizer vaccine.