Yesterday, the FDA granted full and final approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
Calling the agency's approval "a pivotal moment" in the battle against Covid, FDA Acting Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said:
While this and other vaccines have met the FDA's rigorous scientific standards for emergency use authorization, as the first FDA approved Covid-19 vaccine, the public can be confident that this vaccine meets the FDA's gold standard for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality that we require for an approved product.
President Biden took the opportunity to encourage employers to mandate the vaccine for their employees.
I'm calling on more companies in the private sector to step up with vaccine requirements that will reach millions more people. If you're a business leader, a nonprofit leader, a state or local leader, who has been waiting for full FDA approval to require vaccinations, I call on you now to do that — require it. It only makes sense to require a vaccine to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Albert Bourla, Pfizer's chair and chief executive officer, added that he is "hopeful this approval will help increase confidence in our vaccine."
Color me skeptical.
A quick perusal of social media following the FDA's announcement reveals that we remain hopelessly divided over the vaccine and that the vaccine-hesitant remain steadfastly so. They are simply moving their anti-vax goalpost from "It's not approved," to "It's been approved too quickly," "The FDA is pushing an agenda," "It's still poison," and "I wonder how much Pfizer stock the FDA members secretly own." Meanwhile, while some continuing to question the safety of a now fully vetted vaccine, they are also choosing to ingest a highly toxic livestock medication in a self-help effort to combat Covid. None of this makes any sense at all.
Yes, some will hop off their vaccine-hesitancy fence and get the jab now the Pfizer has full approval, but many too many will not. If you have ideas on what will convince them at this point, I'm all ears.
* Photo by Jesse Paul on Unsplash