US panel endorses emergency use of Pfizer vaccine; over to FDA now (Ld)

By Nikhila Natarajan New York, Dec 11 : A high powered vaccine advisory panel, after a marathon 9 hour debate on safety and efficacy data, has endorsed emergency use approval of the Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for mass vaccinations of Americans.
The vaccine advisory group, in a 17-4 vote, decided that Pfizer’s shot is safe in people aged 16 and older.
The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to follow the recommendation and set the ball rolling for an epic vaccination drive in America.
Before the final vote, which came just before 6 pm EST, regulators boiled down all of their findings into a single question: Do the benefits of the Pfizer vaccine outweigh its risks for vaccination in people aged 16 and older? The sticking point for the last one hour of the debate was around the issue of whether or not to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for 16 year olds. “The data is thinnest in this age group,” said one of the vaccine advisory members. At least three members said they would prefer vaccinations only for people older than 18.
Pfizer made a strong pitch for its vaccine for “prevention of Covid-19 in individuals 16 years and older, with or without evidence of prior infection”.