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Washington (dpa) - Final spurt to the emergency approval for the corona vaccine of the Mainz company Biontech and its US partner Pfizer: "The FDA has just informed Pfizer that they want to work towards approval," said US Minister of Health Alex Azar US broadcaster ABC.
The FDA confirmed this information in a notification.
The CDC health authority had also been informed so that delivery of the vaccine could then start quickly.
The emergency approval from the US FDA could come "in the next few days".
"On Monday or Tuesday next week we could see that people are vaccinated."
Previously, the application by Pfizer and Biontech had already cleared an important hurdle: on Thursday, after hours of discussion, an FDA advisory committee voted in favor of granting emergency approval to people aged 16 and over.
At the meeting held by video link, 17 of the experts voted for admission, 4 voted against.
There was one abstention.
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The recommendation of the advisory committee is not binding, but the authority usually follows the recommendations of the experts.
It would be the first corona vaccine approved in the United States.
US President-elect Joe Biden described the committee's recommendation as "a bright light in an unnecessarily dark time".
In the country with around 330 million inhabitants, more than 15 million people have already been infected with the corona virus.
Since the pandemic began, around 290,000 people have died from the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen.
In absolute numbers that is more than in any other country in the world.
"I would like to thank the FDA advisory committee for recognizing the critical role our vaccine can play in the fight against the ongoing pandemic," said Biontech co-founder Ugur Sahin, according to the statement.
"Today's positive discussion and vote confirms the potential of our vaccine candidate to protect people against this deadly and devastating disease."
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Biontech and Pfizer's vaccine is already approved in the UK, Canada, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
An application for emergency approval is currently being examined in the EU, and a decision may be expected this year.
Results of the phase III study of the vaccine, which were published on Thursday in the renowned specialist magazine “New England Journal of Medicine”, show an effectiveness of 95 percent.
This means that 95 percent fewer diseases occurred among the subjects in the vaccinated group than among the subjects in the control group.
However, whether this value determined under study conditions will also be achieved with massive use of the vaccine will only be known after major vaccination campaigns.
According to the information, the study included 43,448 participants aged 16 and over.
21,720 of these received the “BNT162b2” vaccine, 21,728 a placebo - two doses each 21 days apart.
Less than three percent of the participants who received the vaccine had more severe side effects such as fever, tiredness or headache afterwards.
Further studies, for example with younger people, pregnant women or risk groups are planned.
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FDA chief Stephen Hahn said the meeting of the advisory committee made up of scientists, doctors and employees of government and pharmaceutical companies was an "important step".
"At this time of great urgency, the FDA employees feel it is their responsibility to complete the review process as quickly as possible," Hahn continued - but emphasized the absolute priority of safety.
"I can assure you that no vaccine will be approved in the US that FDA staff would not safely give to their own families."
The US company Moderna has also applied for emergency approval from the FDA, and the advisory committee plans to discuss this next Thursday.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201211-99-657839 / 2
Contribution from ABC