A sign is seen at the Research Centers of America on August 18 during the phase 3 COVID-19 trial of the Moderna vaccine in Hollywood, Florida, the US. Photo: AFP

 
An advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) met on Thursday and voted in favor of authorizing American drugmaker Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

It is the second COVID-19 vaccine in the country, following the approval of a vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer in partnership with German company BioNTech.

The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the FDA voted 20-0 with one abstention to support the agency issuing emergency use authorization to the vaccine mRNA-1273.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn is expected to authorize the vaccine soon after, with delivery to begin nationwide next Monday, according to U.S. media reports.

The FDA authorized Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use last Friday. The country started its COVID-19 vaccine rollout nationwide on Monday.

The massive vaccine rollout came as the country's COVID-19 death toll surpassed 300,000, and single-day new cases, deaths as well as hospitalizations continued to set new records.