Health Chief sees Vaccine for all Americans by Second quarter 2021

All Americans who want to get a coronavirus vaccine should be able to do so by the second quarter of 2021, according to Health and Human Services official Alex Azar. /AFP

All Americans who want to get a coronavirus vaccine should be able to do so by the second quarter of 2021, according to Health and Human Services official Alex Azar.

With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration due to decide as early as Thursday on emergency authorization for a shot developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, Azar, and Moncef Slaoui, the head of the government's program to accelerate a vaccine, expressed confidence that the FDA would clear the way.

"I've not heard of any red flags, but I'll have to leave that to the career scientists at the FDA who were digging through all the data," Azar said on "Fox News Sunday".

"Based on the data that I know, I expect the FDA to make a positive decision," Slaoui, who heads the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed program, said on CBS's "Face the Nation".

Plans to roll out vaccines against COVID-19 pandemic linked to more than 280,000 deaths in the U.S. are gaining urgency as cases reach new highs nationwide, straining hospital care and the economy particularly in urban hot spots.

(With input from agencies)