Imran Yaqub Dhillon
New York
The United States hit a record 16 million Covid-19 cases on Saturday afternoon, with deaths closing in on the 300,000 mark, even as millions of doses of a new vaccine were expected to roll-out across the nation on Sunday.
The first vaccine was approved late on Friday by the US Food and Drug Administration and is expected to touch off a mass-inoculation campaign of unparalleled dimension to end the pandemic that has upended daily life and devastated the US economy.
Meanwhile, USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised emergency use of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine after US President Donald Trump’s chief of staff threatened firing the body’s commissioner. The first batch of vaccines has been delivered to Michigan, while the rest of the states have also started delivering the vaccines.
The FDA had already planned to clear the vaccine Saturday morning and the acceleration of authorisation does not change delivery timeline of the first shots. It will be given to people aged 16 and above. Healthcare workers and elderly people in long-term care facilities are expected to be the main recipients of a first round of 2.9 million doses this month.
