Fauci hopes Covid vaccines receive full FDA approval soon

• Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed his hopes that the Covid vaccines will get full FDA approval by the end of the month.
• He expects that the decision will prompt a wave of vaccine mandates for employees of the private sector and education sector.
• The vaccines made by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson had only received emergency-use approval amid the rush to curb the spread of the virus.

Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed his hopes that the current Covid vaccines will finally receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He expects that this will trigger a wave of vaccine mandates from the private and education sectors.

Fauci shared, “I hope — I don’t predict — I hope that it will be within the next few weeks. I hope it’s within the month of August.”

“If that’s the case, you’re going to see the empowerment of local enterprises, giving mandates that could be colleges, universities, places of business, a whole variety and I strongly support that,” he continued. “The time has come. … We’ve got to go the extra step to get people vaccinated.”

Currently, the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines only have emergency-use approval.

While the federal government will not mandate vaccines beyond the federal workforce, the Biden administration has urged businesses and state and local governments to consider such mandates.

Fauci, who is also President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, pointed out the necessity of “mandates at the local level” to help fight the spread of the virus.

The Biden administration has been steadfast in their aim to get more Americans to get vaccinated.

Recently approved rules require federal workers to provide proof of vaccination or undergo regular testing, mask mandates, and travel restrictions. U.S. troops may also soon face a vaccine requirement.

Other high-profile companies such as Disney, Walmart, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook have also announced that they will soon issue a vaccine requirement. Meanwhile, some localities have implemented vaccine requirements for indoor activities.

United Airlines employees will have to be vaccinated by Oct. 25 or five weeks after the FDA grants full approval to one of the vaccines, whichever comes first.

The president of the American Federation of Teachers union, Randi Weingarten, said on Sunday, “As a matter of personal conscience, I think that we need to be working with our employers — not opposing them on vaccine mandates.”

National Institutes of Health director, Dr. Francis Collins, remarked on Sunday, “I celebrate when I see businesses deciding that they’re going to mandate that for their employees… I think we ought to use every public health tool we can when people are dying.”

Still, these mandates have met pushback.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to block a plan by Indiana University to require vaccination for students and employees.

Source: CNBC