Washington: Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine is likely to be approved for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration within the next 24 hours, after a panel of outside advisers to the agency unanimously endorsed its use.

The committee voted 20-0 with one abstention that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks in people aged 18 and older, one week after the same panel backed a similar vaccine from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE, leading to an FDA emergency use authorisation a day later.

The FDA is expected to greenlight Moderna’s vaccine as early as late Thursday or Friday, providing another ray of hope to a nation that has lost more than 300,000 lives to COVID-19 - including a one-day high of 3,580 deaths on Wednesday - while record numbers of patients threaten to overwhelm American hospitals.

The Moderna vaccine is set to begin distribution as soon as the FDA signs off on it. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC on Thursday that 5.9 million doses have been allotted for state governors and were ready to ship nationwide.