(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will approve COVID-19 medication from both Pfizer Bloomberg News reports that Merck and Inc (NYSE:) were in operation as of Wednesday morning, according to people familiar with the situation.

These two medications, particularly Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill, can be used at home immediately upon the onset of symptoms to prevent COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations.

Merck’s drug, Molnupiravir (developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics), was demonstrated to decrease hospitalizations by 30% and death rates by about 30% during a clinical trial in patients at high risk early in their illness.

Molnupiravir received a narrow approval vote by an advisory panel to FDA Nov. 30, in favor of FDA authorization.

Paxlovid from Pfizer showed an almost 90% rate of effectiveness in the prevention of hospitalizations and death in high-risk patient populations.

An immediate response was not received from the FDA to our request for comments.

The UK was the first to approve Merck’s antiviral drug, which is for mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients and people at risk of severe disease.

A contract has been signed by the United States to purchase as many as five million Merck drugs and as many as ten million Pfizer treatments.