The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was moving toward the rapid approval of Pfizer's covid-19 vaccine emergency use authorization. The vaccine received support from an FDA advisory panel on Thursday.In a statement Friday, the FDA said the agency had "informed the Centers for Disease Control and prevention and act quickly so that they can implement their plan to distribute the vaccine in a timely manner."

By 17 votes to 4, with 1 abstention, the FDA advisory panel agreed with the authorization to approve the vaccine. The vaccine showed 95% effectiveness in large clinical trials. One of the focus of the panel discussion was whether there was enough data to support the use in the 16-year-old and 17-year-old population, which made some pediatricians on the Advisory Committee reluctant to vote for it.

However, other members indicated that data from older participants could be used to infer younger populations. If approved by the FDA, vaccine distribution across the United States will start, initially with 2.9 million doses in each state.