A panel of experts in the US has voted to recommend granting emergency approval for Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine, paving the way for the United States to become the next country to move ahead with mass immunisation.
It comes as the worst-hit country in the world logged nearly 6,000 virus deaths in 48 hours and its overall toll was approaching 300,000.
With northern hemisphere countries hit by a pandemic winter surge, Britain this week became the first Western country to roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Canada, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have also approved it. EU countries eagerly awaited a greenlight for vaccines that the bloc's own watchdog said remained on track for approval despite a two-week-long cyberattack, which is under