According to the New York Times, the Food and Drug Administration is looking to give full approval to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine by Labor Day.
Pfizer had filed for full approval back in May. Since then, pressure has built on the FDA to grant full approval, especially once the Delta variant started becoming the dominant variant across much of the country.
“I just have not sensed a sense of urgency from the F.D.A. on full approval,” Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said Tuesday. “And I find it baffling, given where we are as a country in terms of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.”
In a statement, the FDA said it has taken “taken an all-hands-on-deck approach” to the work.
Full approval is expected to have multiple different impacts. First and foremost, it could help increase vaccination rates.
Recent polls by the Kaiser Family Foundation have found three of every 10 unvaccinated people said that they would be more likely to get a shot with a fully approved vaccine. However, Kaiser said many of the people who responded didn’t understand the regulatory process. Kaiser speculated those respondents might be using a lack of full approval as an excuse to not get the vaccine.
In addition to potentially increasing vaccination rates, full approval would lead to vaccination mandates across the country. For example, civilians working for the Defense Department must be vaccinated or face regular testing. However, the military has held off on ordering shots for 1.3 million active-duty service members until full approval is granted.
Mandates could be issued by many universities and hospitals, as well as at least one major city, San Francisco.
Moderna filed for full approval of its vaccine back in June. The company is still submitting data, and has not said when that process will be complete. Johnson & Johnson has not yet applied but plans to do so later this year.
