COVID-19 | After a Thanksgiving weekend when the number of people travelling through US airports reached its highest since mid-March, a top government official said on Monday some Americans could begin receiving coronavirus vaccinations before Christmas.

US Health Secretary Alex Azar said Pfizer Inc’s Covid-19 vaccine could be authorised and shipped within days of a Dec 10 meeting of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration tasked with reviewing trial data and recommending whether it warrants approval.

A vaccine from Moderna Inc could follow a week later, he said, after the company announced on Monday it would apply for US and European emergency authorisation. Final trial data showed the vaccine to be 94.1 percent effective at preventing Covid-19, comparable with Pfizer’s results...