FDA grants Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine first US COVID vaccine

The Food and Drug Administration grants Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, the first COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the United States. The authorization comes 11 months after the pandemic began, enabled by Operation Warp Speed, a $10 billion public-private partnership Trump launched in May 2020 that invested in vaccine development while manufacturing began before clinical trial completion. The Moderna vaccine receives EUA one week later. The U.S. begins mass vaccination on December 14, starting with healthcare workers and nursing home residents.