The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in emergencies. According to the BBC, there was a lot of pressure on the agency from the administration of President Donald Trump, but the head of the FDA, Stephen Hahn, denies this.

According to Donald Trump, the first vaccination will start in the next 24 hours. Health Minister Alex Azar said they would work with Pfizer to launch mass vaccinations as early as next week.

The use of the Pfizer vaccine has already been approved by regulators in the UK, Canada, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Pfizer is scheduled to deliver 6.4 million doses of the vaccine to the U.S. by the end of December, which will be distributed to about three million people.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vaccine will primarily be given to medical workers and beneficiaries of nursing homes.