Saudi Arabia approves Pfizer coronavirus vaccine

Saudi Arabia approved Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, according to state news agency SPA, making it the fourth country to do so.

Pfizer submitted data on the vaccine to the Saudi Arabia Food and Drug Authority on Nov. 24, the news outlet said.

It is unclear when the first doses will arrive in Saudi Arabia, but SPA said its Health Ministry will make the announcement. The health authority will analyze samples from incoming shipments to ensure quality before using it.

The approval comes a day after Canada became the third country to approve the vaccine, following the United Kingdom and Bahrain.

The U.K. became the first country to begin to inoculate citizens with the vaccine on Tuesday, roughly one week after it was the first to approve the vaccine.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is hosting a panel of outside experts on Thursday to discuss the vaccine. The agency released documents on Tuesday indicating that it is 95 percent effective and poses no serious safety concerns.

Peter Marks, who oversees the FDA’s vaccines division, said a decision on authorizing the vaccine could come “days to a week” after Thursday’s meeting, and the federal government plans to distribute 2.9 million doses immediately after it’s authorized.