Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine has passed a critical milestone when a US panel of experts formally recommended that the Food and Drug Administration authorize the vaccine.

The USFDA is likely to authorize the Pfizer's vaccine within days, giving health care workers and nursing home residents first priority to begin receiving the first shots early next week.

The US FDA’s vaccine advisory panel, comprising independent scientific experts, infectious disease doctors, and statisticians, voted 17 to 4, with one member abstaining, in favor of emergency authorization for people above 16 years of age.

Although the FDA does not have to follow the advice of its advisory panel, it usually does.

The US is the worst-hit nation in the world, with more than 15 million known Corona cases.