The Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.
With the full approval from the FDA, President Biden urged Americans who haven’t gotten the vaccine yet to do so.
There is still a lot of vaccine hesitancy in the country and in Alabama. Alabama still ranks near the bottom when it comes to vaccinations. Heath leaders are hoping now that the FDA has given its full approval and not an emergency authorization that more people will feel confident about taking the shots.
While many advocates of the COVID vaccines complained the process was taking too long, the FDA completed the approval in about 40% of the time it would normally take to get the final OK.
A doctor at UAB who works on vaccine research said the approval is good news. “It’s hard to predict what that means. A lot of people have trusted the FDA in the past and were waiting for full FDA approval,” said Dr. Paul Geopfert, Director of the Alabama Vaccine Research Clinic.
Some of those who are vaccine hesitant worried about the vaccines being rushed through in the emergency authorization that was given by the FDA last year. Will the full approval now convince people to get the shots? “To be honest, it will mean a few percentage points of the population. Maybe 5% will be moved in order to get vaccinated,” Dr. Geopfert said.
UAB doctors said University Hospital is facing an increasing number of COVID patients due to the very contagious Delta variant. Many are younger, a large percentage are being treated in the ICU, and some are being put on ventilators.
“We have reached record hospitalizations for particularly two groups of people we haven’t seen before. Those are people in their 30′s and people under 18 years old,” Dr. Jeanne Marrrazzo, UAB Infectious Diseases said.
UAB doctors said to stop the surge of patients, more people have to get vaccinated. They said the Pfizer vaccine is safe and effective.
“These vaccines are still incredibly effective. They are our best weapon against this disease. Remember, vaccines are our best weapon against diseases anyway,” Geopfert said.
Dr. Geopfert expected the Moderna vaccine will also be approved by the FDA later this month or next month.
- Courtesy WTVY-TV Dothan, AL
