The US Department of Health and Human Services has revealed that a third vaccine to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic could get US approval by next month.
This is coming some days after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved emergency use of 2 Covid-19 vaccines, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
According to a report from Reuters, this disclosure was made by the Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, Admiral Brett Giroir, during a chat with ABC News on Sunday, December 19, 2020.
The top US health official said that data was yet to be released on the novel coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson and Jansen. However, he said that if approved it would give the United States its third vaccine after the ones from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc.
What you should know
This is coming a day after an advisory panel of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted to approve the emergency use of Moderna Inc’s coronavirus vaccine for people that are 18 years and above. This was after the FDA had authorized the use of the vaccine.
This is as the US Covid-19 vaccine programme head, Moncef Slaoui, said the first Moderna vaccine shot is expected to be given on Monday morning.
The US government plans to deliver 5.9 million Moderna vaccine and 2 million Pfizer vaccine this week.
