Washington, November 22: The United States is expected to begin vaccination against coronavirus (COVID-19) in early December, a senior official told news agency Agence France-Presse. "The United States hopes to begin a sweeping program of Covid vaccinations in early December," Moncef Slaoui, Chief Adviser, Operation Warp Speed, said. Pfizer Seeks Emergency Approval For COVID-19 Vaccine From US Regulators As Doses Could Be Available by Next Month.

"Our plan is to be able to ship vaccines to the immunization sites within 24 hours of approval...so I expect maybe on Day Two of the approval, on the 11thor 12 of December," Moncef Slaoui was quoted as saying. According to the Centers for Disease Control’s vaccination program, which hasn’t been finalised yet, essential federal workers and healthcare workers would be among the first group of Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The statement regarding the start of vaccination process in the US has come after Pfizer formally asked US Food and Drug Administration to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine. Named BNT162b2, the vaccine candidate has shown 95 per cent efficacy in a totality of two data sets released recently. Besides, Moderna also said last week that its vaccine has shown more than 94.5 percent effectiveness.

According to a report by CNBC, five federal agencies have started telling employees they could receive Pfizer or Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in as little as eight weeks. No official confirmation has been made though.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2020 08:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).