Following President Biden's recent appearance in Ohio for CNN's Town Hall with Don Lemon, a new report indicates that the Biden administration is looking to pressure the U.S. Food & Drug Administration into providing full approval for the COVID vaccines currently available in the United States today. Another report said that President Joe Biden is looking to have the vaccines fully approved by the time classes resume in August.
According to LifeSite, the Biden administration implied that they want the FDA to fully approve COVID vaccines as soon as possible. Right now, the COVID vaccines are under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), which allows the use of "unapproved medical products" in the event of a global pandemic such as that which was caused by the coronavirus. The emergency approval was provided because the COVID vaccine met "certain statutory criteria."
But the Biden administration is looking to hasten the process to get the FDA to fully approve COVID vaccines, even as soon as classes begin in August. During CNN's Presidential Town Hall, President Biden said that the question of whether COVID vaccines are temporarily approved or permanently approved lies with the FDA, which he expects to fully approve COVID vaccines "quickly." The Democratic president said that full approval is "underway" and that he expects it to "occur quickly," signaling that the administration may already be putting pressure on the FDA.
The FDA approval will boost the Biden administration's confidence in finally achieving the 70% vaccination rate that they are aiming for, which they did not meet in time for the self-imposed deadline of July 4th.
Right now, the U.S. has managed to fully vaccinate 49.7% of its population, or 163 million people. In an attempt to increase vaccination rates in the U.S., the White House launched a door to door campaign to speak to the vaccine hesitant and possibly change their minds about the vaccine. The White House also urged the private sector to implement their own vaccine mandates as they see fit.
NBC News reported that according to health experts who worked for the Obama and Biden administration, the FDA's "official regulatory signoff" will banish "significant legal and public relations [barriers]" for both the government and private sectors that want to implement vaccine mandates on their employees and customers.
According to The New York Times, President Biden expects full approval of COVID vaccines "maybe in the beginning of the school year, at the end of August, beginning of September, October" after he spoke to over 20 scientists in a group the administration brought together for the task.
LifeSite reports that the FDA is not politics-free, as "politicians and pharmaceutical companies regularly steer and manipulate the FDA as they please." The FDA's new executive drug regulator Patrizia Cavazzoni aso has ties to Big Pharma, including Pfizer, the company behind one of the first two vaccines approved in the U.S.
Conservatives and Republican leaders are already anticipating mandatory vaccine passports by pushing for legislation against it. Last week, reports indicated that Republican lawmakers are also pushing to provide protections for unvaccinated people.
The reports revealed that on a state level, Republican-led states are enacting restrictions on vaccine mandates or vaccine passports, making it illegal for both private and government sectors to discriminate against those who choose not to get the COVID vaccine.
