Pharmaceutical company Moderna on Monday applied to the US Food and Drug Administration for authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine, CNN reports.
The company asked the FDA to review an expanded data set showing the vaccine is 94.1% effective at preventing COVID-19 and 100% effective at preventing severe cases of the disease.
Moderna is the second company to apply to the FDA for emergency use authorization for a coronavirus vaccine. Pfizer applied on November 20 with data showing similarly high efficacy.
The first vaccinations in the United States are expected to take place "towards the latter part of December," according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The FDA is scheduled to meet with its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on December 10 to review Pfizer's application and on December 17 to review Moderna's application, according to CNN.
If the FDA grants the vaccine emergency use authorization, within a day or two, an advisory committee to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make a recommendation about who should get the shots first. That group will likely include health care workers and nursing home residents.