Will FDA Approval Of The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID Vaccine Be A Gamer Changer?

Town Square with Ernie Manouse airs at 3 p.m. CT. Tune in on 88.7FM, listen online or subscribe to the podcast. Join the discussion at 888-486-9677, [email protected] or @townsquaretalk.

News broke this morning that a lot of people have been waiting for.

The Food and Drug Administration has formally approved Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine.

Today’s FDA approval replaces the emergency use authorization given last December.

What does FDA approval actually mean, and what do we need to understand about the process that got us here?

What are the consequences of FDA approval?  Will it make the vaccine easier to mandate or distribute, and could it increase vaccination rates?

Today, medical experts are here to explain, and we'll also cover back-to-school and COVID.

Guests:

Dr. Michael Chang

Pediatric infectious diseases specialist at UTHealth and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital

Dr. James McDeavitt

Executive Vice President and Dean of Clinical Affairs at Baylor College of Medicine
He writes the blog "COVID-19 Updates from Dr. James Deavitt" for Baylor College of Medicine

During the show, Dr. Chang referred to these websites in response to a listener question. Both are programs run by the Department of Health and Human Services and have publicly available data:

National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program:

https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/index.html

Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program

https://www.hrsa.gov/cicp

Comparison between the two programs

https://www.hrsa.gov/cicp/cicp-vicp

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