With a new wave of coronavirus contamination sweeping the country, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sped up the process of fully approving Pfizer-coronavirus BioNTech’s vaccine, intending to finish it by the beginning of next month, according to people familiar with the attempt. President Joe Biden stated that a fully approved vaccination would be available in early September, according to The New York Times on Aug. 3, 2021.
According to people familiar with the plan, the FDA’s unofficial target is Labor Day. The agency leaders say approval might boost public trust, and they have taken a more “taken an all-hands-on-deck approach.”
Providing the Pfizer vaccine full clearance, rather than relying on people’s trust of the FDA’s emergency authorization from last year, might assist boost vaccination rates at a time when the extremely transmissible Delta strain is rapidly increasing the number of new infections.
Once a vaccine is officially approved, more universities, hospitals, large cities are likely to mandate immunizations. Final approval could also assist in clearing up misconceptions regarding vaccine safety and legal difficulties surrounding mandates.
Since Pfizer filed its application on May 7, federal regulators have been under increasing public pressure to approve the vaccine fully. However, in an interview on Tuesday, August 3, Dr. Ashish K. Jha, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, stated, “I really haven’t felt a sense of seriousness from the FDA in full approval, and considering where we as a country in terms of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths, I find that perplexing.”
Even though 192 million Americans or 70 percent of the adult population have had at least one vaccine injection, many are still susceptible to the ultra-contagious Delta variant. The country is averaging 86,000 new infections every day, up 142 percent in only two weeks, according to The New York Times database.
Written by Ramses Sanchez Cantu
Edited by Sheena Robertson and Cathy Milne-Ware
Source:
The New York Times: F.D.A. Aims to Give Final Approval to Pfizer Vaccine by Early Next Month; by Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland
Featured and Top Image by Maj. Leslie Reed, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Courtesy of Oregon National Guard’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of stingrayschuller’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
