The FDA Advisory Panel meets in the present day to vote on whether or not to advocate Pfizer’s approval of the Covid vaccine

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A panel from the Food and Drug Administration will meet Thursday to vote on whether to recommend Pfizer and BioNTech’s emergency approval of the coronavirus vaccine.

Prior to voting by the Agency’s Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biological Products, the independent panel of medical experts will evaluate the Pfizer clinical trial data and provide their opinion on the vaccine, including whether the benefits outweigh the risks in an emergency .

The FDA is not required to follow the advice of the advisory group, but it often does.

A recommendation from the advisory committee is the final step before the FDA is likely to give final OK to the distribution of the potentially life-saving doses in the United States. The vaccine would be the first to be approved for use in the United States

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