FDA approves vaccine for coronavirus

COVID-19 vaccine rollout was a moment of hope amidst the pandemic’s darkest days where the U.S. death toll breached 300,000. FDA cleared the two-shot vaccine developed by Pfizer and German firm BioNTech on December 8. The FDA’s career scientists confirmed Pfizer’s assessment that the vaccine was 95 percent effective at preventing disease with tolerable short-term side effects, which include fatigue, headaches, and muscle pain that gets resolved within two days. The vaccine is administered in two doses, three weeks apart, and was found to protect people after the first dose itself.

On December 15, the FDA review cleared the path for a new vaccine developed by Moderna. It was confirmed to be 94 percent effective in a clinical trial with no serious safety concerns after a detailed review by scientists of the Food and Drug Administration. FDA most likely will authorize this vaccine as early as Friday.