The American Medicines Agency (FDA) announced yesterday that it had definitively approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine against Covid-19. While it had so far only an emergency authorization, it thus becomes the first vaccine to be fully approved in the United States.
The first vaccine definitively approved by the United States Medicines Agency
Since December 2020, the Pfizer-BioNTech alliance vaccine against Covid-19 has benefited from a temporary emergency authorization. Now, the vaccine is now fully approved for people 16 years of age and over as announced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US drug agency in a press release, this Monday, August 23, 2021. The Comirnaty vaccine continues however, to be conditionally authorized for children and adolescents aged 12 to 15 years.
A decision which should give more confidence in vaccination as declared by the acting head of the American regulator, Janet Woodcock: ” Even though millions of people have already been safely vaccinated against Covid-19, we recognize that for some, this authorization may give more confidence in the vaccination. “. Indeed, this final authorization confirms the efficacy of the vaccine as we can read in the FDA press release: ” The public can be confident that this vaccine meets the high standards of safety, efficacy and manufacturing quality that the FDA demands of an approved product. “. In addition, the body recalls that the vaccine production process has been verified, including during plant visits.
Impose vaccination on certain populations
In addition to helping to increase the population’s confidence in the vaccine, this full authorization will also allow certain authorities to impose vaccination without fear of legal recourse. The Pentagon has already announced that all members of the American armed forces will now have to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Likewise, New York City has announced that city school staff (which equates to nearly 150,000 employees) should also have received at least one dose of vaccine by September 27. Finally, the final authorization of the Pfizer vaccine could also push some companies to impose vaccination on their employees. According to the “Wall Street Journal”, Chevron Corp. has already announced that it wants to require its expatriate employees, its employees traveling abroad and those working on the company’s ships to be vaccinated.
