Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is the second to receive an emergency use authorization from the FDA. | Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is poised to roll out within days.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued an emergency use authorization for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, clearing the way for it to be the second vaccine distributed in the United States. The decision follows a vote on Thursday by an advisory committee to the FDA which found that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its harms for people ages 18 years old and older.

“With the availability of two vaccines now for the prevention of COVID-19, the FDA has taken another crucial step in the fight against this global pandemic that is causing vast numbers of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States each day,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, in