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

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 panel's endorsement for the second COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. came as the country's official death toll surpassed 310,000 on Thursday, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University. The national case count also topped 17.1 million.

A total of 247,403 new cases and 3,656 deaths were reported across the country on Wednesday, setting new single-day records since the outset of the pandemic, Johns Hopkins University's data showed on Thursday.

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

(With input from agencies)