That approval was announced Monday, August 23, when acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock predicted the “milestone puts us one step closer to altering the course of this pandemic in the U.S.”
"There's never been a vaccine that has been approved so quickly,” responds Twila Brase, a registered nurse who leads Citizen's Council for Health Freedom, which advocates for patients’ rights.
“I think that this is the government deciding to help employers and others move forward with vaccination mandates," Brase tells American Family News. "They want this approval to eliminate all reason for opposition to the vaccine."
In fact, at about the same time Brase was sharing that view with AFN, the Pentagon cited the final FDA approval when it announced it was pushing ahead with its plans for a mandatory vaccine for all service members, The Associated Press reported Monday.
Also on Monday, President Biden asked private companies to “step up with vaccine requirements” now that the Pfizer jab has been approved.
“Do what I did last month,” he said. “Require your employees to get vaccinated or face strict requirements.”
"This will not settle anything," counters Brase. "Many people will understand that this is a political decision and if anything, it's going to fan the flames of dissent from those who are concerned about the vaccination and don't believe that there is any way that a company or anyone else should force them to take an injection of something that is genetic, something that has side effects, and something they don't want to take."
In its press release announcing its approval of the COVID-19 shot, the FDA informs the public it will now be marketed as Comirnaty (koe-mir'-na-tee) -- and describes the mRNA contained in it as "a kind of genetic material [that] is only present in the body for a short time and is not incorporated into, nor does it alter, an individual's genetic material."
