US Food and Drug Administration chief Stephen Hahn: I will absolutely take vaccine
- The US saw more than 3,000 deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, a record
- ‘This vaccine met the FDA’s rigorous standards for quality, safety and efficacy. Science and data guided the FDA’s decision,’ said Hahn
The head of the US Food and Drug Administration, the country's drug regulator, said he will “absolutely” take the new coronavirus vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, noting there has been a strict safety process, despite the speed at which the doses were produced.
“I will absolutely take this Covid-19 vaccine, pending availability and distribution,” Stephen Hahn, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, said at a press briefing the morning after the regulator authorised the emergency use of the vaccine.
“This vaccine met the FDA’s rigorous standards for quality, safety and efficacy. Science and data guided the FDA’s decision,” he said, insisting there was no “external pressure.”
The emergency approval is for use in people 16 years of age or older and will kick off the largest ever mass inoculation programme.
First in line to get the vaccinations are health care workers and nursing home residents. Most people are not expected to get inoculated until spring or summer, health authorities say.
The nation is in the midst of a massive surge in cases, with dwindling hospital bed availability across the country. The US saw more than 3,000 deaths – a record – from the coronavirus on Wednesday.
Hahn said authorities are already moving doses of the vaccine across the country.
