The Food and Drug Administration of the United States (FDA, for its acronym in English) has given this Friday the emergency authorization to the coronavirus vaccine from Moderna laboratory.
In this way, Moderna becomes the second vaccine authorized in the North American country after last Friday the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved, which has already begun to be used to immunize health workers in the country.
FDA experts gave the go-ahead to the vaccine’s scientific data Thursday. The Administration will allow the use of the vaccine in people over 18 years of age.
The Commissioner of the FDA, Stephen Hahn, has assured in a statement that it is “another crucial step in the fight against this global pandemic” and has celebrated that two vaccines have already been approved at an “expeditious pace” without this having harmed the “open and transparent scientific review” process.
TRUMP AND BIDEN CELEBRATE APPROVAL
The US President, Donald Trump, has published a brief message on Twitter after the news, in which he has written “congratulations, the Modern vaccine is now available.”
For his part, the president-elect, Joe Biden, has sent a statement with his wife, Jill Biden, in which he describes the approval of this second vaccine as a “milestone”.
In the letter, Biden says that he and his wife “share the frustration and grief that many Americans feel.”
The Bidens have called in the text to the members of Congress to approve the fiscal stimulus for the economic fight against the coronavirus, a package of measures that has been negotiating for months.
The president-elect will be vaccinated with his wife next Monday in a public act and thus follows the example of other political personalities in the country such as the US Vice President, Mike Pence, and the leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Democrat Nancy Pelosi and Republican Mitch McConnell, who did so on Friday.
The country’s highest scientific authority for the management of the pandemic has also spoken, the epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, who has also announced on CNN that he will travel the nation to raise awareness about the need to get the vaccine, especially among African Americans, who are the group more reticent.
THE PANDEMIC DOES NOT TREGUE
When the first five days of vaccination are fulfilled, the infections do not give truce in the North American country and some case counts already predict a new record of daily positives with California as the epicenter of the pandemic and around 250,000 new cases.
In this state, the Superior Court has overturned an earlier ruling that allowed bars and strip clubs in the city of San Diego to remain open despite local restrictions.
After the Thanksgiving bridge at the end of November, the country has experienced a continuous increase in cases that has led the states of the country to tighten restrictions.
This is the case of Washington, which according to ‘The Washington Post’ will close libraries and museums and will not allow serving inside bars and restaurants to try to stop the chain of infections.