It’s getting closer, so, what happens?
How the FDA’s full approval could affect COVID-19 vaccinations
The rise of the highly transmissible Delta variant has put mounting pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to fully approve the COVID-19 vaccines under emergency use authorization.
Pfizer’s vaccine is expected to be the first to be granted such approval, possibly within weeks. Although it is unclear what impact this decision will have on the course of the pandemic, many public health experts believe it could make a difference in several ways.
One is that the full approval could persuade some unvaccinated Americans to get the shot.
Me, I recommend getting it, but, I’m not going to sit there and attempt to convince you. Not that I’m calling them pigs, but, remember the old saying “never teach a pig to dance. It wastes your time and annoys the pig”? Yeah, most, it’s a waste of time and you annoy your friends, coworkers, and family. Though, with family, they’re your family, you are Constitutionally allowed to annoy them, and should. Even if Delta (and soon Lamda) breaks through at a high rate, it usually means symptoms like a mild cold at worst.
Even though the COVID-19 vaccines have undergone rigorous safety protocols in order to be granted emergency use authorization by the FDA, and billions of people worldwide have now been vaccinated without any complications, many Americans continue to see the shots as “experimental.â€
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 3 in 10 unvaccinated adults — 31 percent — said they would be more likely to get the shots if a vaccine received full approval. The organization notes, however, that two-thirds of the adults polled were confused about the type of FDA approval category that these vaccines currently have. Some thought they were already fully approved, and others were unsure about whether they were fully approved or authorized for emergency use. The organization says these findings likely suggest that FDA approval is “a proxy for general safety concerns.â€
Sure, a lot run with conspiracy theories, but most of the “anti-vaxxers” are really just concerned with them not being fully approved. Of course, remember than many drugs are ones you see on TV, with people smiling and dancing and stuff and disclaimers like “could cause diarrhea and death.”
Other experts, however, believe people who are still hesitant about the vaccines are probably not going to be swayed by FDA approval. Dorit Reiss, a professor of law at the University of California, San Francisco, Hastings College of Law, told Yahoo News that “it will make a larger difference to the legal situation.â€
Reiss, whose current research focuses on legal and policy issues related to vaccines, said the approval could give businesses and government agencies more confidence to mandate COVID-19 vaccines. Across the nation these mandates have become more common, but they continue to be surrounded by controversy, in part because the COVID-19 vaccines have yet to be fully approved by the FDA.
“It will remove the argument that the vaccines cannot be mandated because they are under emergency use authorization,†Reiss said.
Most private workplaces already have the legal authority to mandate vaccines for workers. Same with most governments for government employees (strange that Biden hasn’t mandated it for the Executive Branch). But, most hedge a bit by requiring vaccines or weekly/biweekly testing. With full FDA approval you can expect quite a bit more mandates without the option of testing.
But, if government keeps attempting to implement masking and other measures …. for the life of me I can’t understand why they don’t push for social distancing again. Wash hands. Don’t touch. Oh, right, authoritarianism lite from elected officials….it will not help, and people will simply leave their jobs. Many in the medical field, who will go elsewhere.
Read: What Can You Expect When The FDA Gives Full Approval Of Vaccines? »