The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was finalizing the work needed to clear a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and German partner BioNTech SE , after the injection was endorsed by an expert panel.
“We could see people getting vaccinated Monday, Tuesday of next week,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Due to limited supplies, the first doses are expected to go to health workers treating Covid-19 patients and nursing-home residents.
More shots will become available to more Americans, starting with people such as essential workers, as vaccine production increases. Yet most Americans won’t get vaccinated until spring or summer, according to health authorities.
Supplies won’t be sufficient to make a serious difference in the coronavirus pandemic this winter, said BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin. BioNTech and Pfizer are scaling up production with the aim of being able to produce up to 100 million doses by January at the latest, he said.
