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FDA advisory panel to make decision on Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine
![FDA advisory panel to make decision on Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine]()
FDA advisory panel to make decision on Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine
Thursday’s meeting of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel is likely the last step before a U.S. decision to begin shipping millions of doses of the shot, which has shown strong protection against the coronavirus.
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine faces one final hurdle as it races to become the first shot greenlighted in the U.S.: a panel of experts who will scrutinize the company’s data for any red flags.
Thursday’s meeting of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel is likely the last step before a U.S. decision to begin shipping millions of doses of the shot, which has shown strong protection against the coronavirus.
The FDA panel functions like a science court that will pick apart the data and debate — in public and live-streamed — whether the shot is safe and effective enough to be cleared for emergency use. The non-government experts specialize in vaccine development, infectious diseases and medical statistics. The FDA is expected to follow the committee’s advice, although it is not required to do so.
AdventHealth will be one of the first hospitals in Central Florida to receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it gets the greenlight. They have yet to release details about its distribution plan but doctors say they are excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
"I'm really excited that it came early in the course of the disease and hopefully, we'll be able to protect many of us," Dr. Sajid Chaudhary, a Florida Infectious Disease Specialist said. He will be one of the first to receive the vaccine when it gets the okay.
Dr. Chaudhary works at AdventHealth Kissimmee and the hospital is already deciding which staff will get vaccinated first depending on how they are exposed to COVID-19 patients. He said first up is "the ER doctors. They are the first ones -- always patients come to the ER. They don't even know that they have COVID. So probably there, they get exposed. Then the hospitalists or medical doctors who are taking care of those patients."
He added that nurses and infectious diseases specialists are top priority groups.
Dr. Chaudhary hopes vaccinations will be scheduled within a week or so after the vaccine is approved for emergency use.
A positive recommendation and speedy U.S. approval seem nearly certain after FDA scientists issued an overwhelmingly positive initial review of the vaccine earlier this week.
