Reports: FDA on track to fully approve Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2021, file photo, Dr. Yomaris Pena, Internal Medicine Physician with Somos Community Care at a COVID-19 extracts the Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine out of a vial at a vaccination site at the Corsi Houses in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York. U.S. health regulators have authorized extra doses of the COVID-19 vaccines in people with weakened immune systems to better protect them from the virus. The announcement Thursday, Aug. 12. by the Food and Drug Administration applies to millions of Americans who take immune-suppressing medicines because of organ transplants, cancer or other disorders.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

The Food and Drug Administration could fully approve the two-dose Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as early as Monday, according to multiple reports.

Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson are currently operating under emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 vaccines.

Many health officials hope full authorization will help with vaccine hesitancy.

It could also lead to more vaccine mandates. Several universities said they would revisit the issue of a vaccine mandate after the COVID-19 shot was fully approved. Many school districts may also put the COVID-19 vaccine on its list of required vaccinations after it’s fully approved.

The FDA did not comment to the New York Times, which was first to report about the potential authorization.

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