The FDA hopes to fully approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday, The New York Times reported
The FDA is pushing to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday, according to The New York Times.
The new licensing timeline for full approval is speedier than the agency originally expected.
Health experts are eager for approval in hopes that it will convince skeptical Americans to get vaccinated.
The Food and Drug Administration is planning to authorize full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech two-dose COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, according to The New York Times.
The new target is a speeder timeline than the agency originally anticipated for licensing the shot, the outlet reported. The FDA had previously set an unofficial deadline for approval by around Labor Day.
On Friday afternoon, regulators still had a " substantial" amount of paperwork and required negotiations with the company to complete before finishing the approval process, according to The Times.
People familiar with the matter told the outlet that some components of the review could possibly push the approval date beyond Monday.
A spokesperson for the FDA declined to comment.
The approval is expected to offer firmer confidence in the vaccine, allowing for a slew of anticipated vaccination mandates among public and private organizations that had been waiting on full authorization before announcing staunch requirements.
The Pfizer-BioNTech shot, along with the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, were authorized for emergency use late last year.
Health experts, too, are eager for an FDA-approved vaccine, in hopes that it will convince some skeptical Americans who have been holding out for a fully authorized shot to get vaccinated.
The move would come one week after the FDA updated its approvals of both Pfizer and Moderna's vaccine to allow for third doses in some immunocompromised people.
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