(Reuters) – Moderna Inc said on Saturday the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to recommend the use of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine on people 18 years of age and older.
The panel voted 11-0 in favor of the vaccine, the company said in a press release.
The vote result came a day after the Food and Drug Administration’s authorization for emergency use of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
“ACIP recommendation is another step forward in our quest to address this devastating pandemic with a vaccine,” Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said in the release.
Moderna’s is the second COVID-19 vaccine to receive approval in the United States after a similar vaccine from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE got the green light for emergency use.
U.S. distribution of Moderna’s vaccine began on Saturday, with more than 3,700 sites due to start receiving and administering shots as soon as Monday.
(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard and Stephen Coates)
