FDA Has Officially Granted Full Approval For Pfizer-BioNTech COVID Vaccine
Michael Cantrell
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The Food and Drug Administration has now issued full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which has been under emergency-use authorization since December of last year, which makes it the first of the vaccines on the market to receive this validation as health authorities struggle to try and win over those who are still skeptical about the vaccine.
The vaccine has only been approved for individuals over the age of 16. More than 204 million individuals in the United States have now been vaccinated since the emergency authorization has been granted.
However, none of the three COVID vaccines that have received emergency-use authorization by the FDA, which includes the ones produced by Moderna, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, — have received full FDA approval.
Public health officials hope it will convince more unvaccinated Americans that Pfizer’s shot is safe and effective. Vaccine hesitancy among some Americans has hindered the United States response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While millions of people have already safely received COVID-19 vaccines, we recognize that for some, the FDA approval of a vaccine may now instill additional confidence to get vaccinated,” Janet Woodcock, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s acting commissioner, went on to say.
Roughly 51% of Americans have been fully vaccinated so far, even as a recent surge of infections spurred by the contagious Delta variant ravages parts of the country with low vaccination rates.
The FDA’s approval is based on updated data from the company’s clinical trial.
“Based on the longer-term follow-up data that we submitted, today’s approval for those aged 16 and over affirms the efficacy and safety profile of our vaccine at a time when it is urgently needed,” Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said in a statement concerning the new announcement.
Cities across the country, like New York and San Francisco, are beginning to impose rules that require individuals to get vaccinated before they are allowed to eat inside restaurants, or work in government offices, along with a bunch of other activities.
That kind of decision is no doubt going to severely hurt local businesses, but since when has the radical left ever been concerned about the economy, right? That point has been hammered home by their love affair with lockdowns.
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