Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer Vaccine Could Gain Full FDA Approval Within Weeks
With a surge of Covid-19 infections ripping through much of the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has accelerated its timetable to fully approve the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, aiming to complete the process by the start of next month, people familiar with the effort said. President Biden said last week that he expected a fully approved vaccine in early fall. But the F.D.A.鈥檚 unofficial deadline is Labor Day or sooner, according to several people familiar with the plan. The agency said in a statement that its leaders recognized that approval might increase public confidence and had 鈥渢aken an all-hands-on-deck approach鈥 to the work. (LaFraniere and Weiland, 8/4)
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he hopes Pfizer-BioNTech鈥檚 COVID-19 vaccine receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration within the next couple of weeks. Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, appeared on CNN Tuesday evening to react to the news the FDA was speeding up its timetable for giving final approval to the two-dose Pfizer vaccine, aiming to complete the process by the end of the month. (Datoc, 8/3)
Just over half of Americans who remain unvaccinated against Covid-19 still believe the vaccine is more dangerous than the coronavirus -- despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, according to a new survey published Wednesday. Unvaccinated adults still also largely believe the news media have exaggerated the severity of the pandemic, and are less likely than vaccinated adults to wear a mask in public, according to the ongoing Kaiser Family Foundation survey. (Fox, 8/4)
The KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor聽released Wednesday聽found that 53 percent of unvaccinated respondents think getting the vaccine is a bigger risk to their health than the virus itself. Seventy-five percent of people who said they would 鈥渄efinitely not鈥 get the shot think the COVID-19 vaccine is a bigger risk. By contrast, 88 percent of vaccinated respondents said the virus poses a greater threat. The poll results underscore the聽stark differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated people鈥檚 viewpoints on COVID-19 and the vaccine. (Coleman, 8/4)
