FDA Provides Complete Approval of Pfizer Vaccine

     After only having emergency-use approval for months, today, the U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA), the world’s first health agency to do so, gave to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine complete approval: a milestone that may help to persuade those who previously feared getting their shots, as the nation battles what may not even be the most contagious strain of COVID to yet mutate.

      Now that 200 million Pfizer shots have been provided in the US, and hundreds of millions worldwide, the FDA said that it has never before had so much evidence to judge a vaccine’s safety. The Pfizer shot, which was created along with its partner BioNTech will now call their shot, “Comirnaty,” and now carries the FDA’s strongest endorsement.

      "The public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality the FDA requires of an approved product," said acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, MD. "Today's milestone puts us one step closer to altering the course of this pandemic in the U.S."

     The CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, who is Jewish and the child of Holocaust survivors, said in a statement that he hopes the complete approval of the vaccine by the FDA, "will help to increase confidence in our vaccine, as vaccination remains the best tool we have to help protect lives."

(Photo by: Darren McGee- Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)