The Latest: US adviser hopes for vaccine approval soon

The Latest: US adviser hopes for vaccine approval soon

SeattlePI.com

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WASHINGTON — A leader of the Trump administration’s effort to produce and distribute a coronavirus vaccine says he expects the Food and Drug Administration to soon authorize the use of a vaccine.

Operation Warp Speed chief science adviser Moncef Slaoui says he hopes by Dec. 10 or 11, a Pfizer vaccine is approved in the U.S.

Slaoui told ABC’s “Good Morning America” he “would expect the FDA to reach a similar conclusion” as British authorities did by approving emergency use of a vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.

Slaoui is urging people to listen to the experts about taking the vaccine, look at the data and keep their minds open. He says “great science” allowed researchers to do discovery work “in weeks rather than in years.”

Slaoui calls the vaccine “an insurance against this virus” and says it’s “what will get us out of this pandemic.”

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— U.K. approves Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, puts Britain on track to start vaccinations soon

— US panel: 1st vaccines to health care workers, nursing homes

— Russia and Germany hit record numbers of daily coronavirus deaths

— British lawmakers approved new coronavirus restrictions in England that take effect Wednesday but many Conservative lawmakers are unhappy about the economic consequences

— Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the ban on nonessential travel with the United States will not be lifted until COVID-19 is significantly more under control around the world.

— French President Emmanuel Macron says France will apply restrictions to prevent vacationers from going to Swiss ski resorts and French slopes will remain closed during the Christmas...

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