On Tuesday, Dec. 15 a committee of federal health officials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced their findings in relation to the effectiveness of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine, calling it highly protective for adults and effective in preventing severe cases of COVID-19.

With this news, the agency is likely to officially grant emergency authorization for a second coronavirus vaccine this week for millions of Americans. 

The positive news comes as hospitals across the nation received shipments of Pfizer's COVID vaccine and ramped up inoculation efforts.

Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine was cleared by the FDA last week.