Fauci: Lack of full FDA approval for COVID-19 vaccines merely a 'technical issue'
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert, said Sunday that Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) did "have a point" when he said COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in his state can at least partly be attributed to the lack of full authorization for the shots from the Food and Drug Administration.
"There are certainly some people who, when you use the terminology 'emergency use authorization,' they kinda think it's ... tenuous data showing that it works so that it's safe," Fauci told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on the latest edition of This Week. For some products that is indeed the case, but the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines' safety and effectiveness are now supported by data taken from "hundreds of millions of people" from around the world, Fauci explained.
"So although it's understandable — quite understandable — that some people might say, well 'we want to wait for the full approval,' that's really only a technical issue," Fauci said. "It's the FDA dotting the I's and crossing the T's. But there's no doubt in my mind that these vaccines are going to get full approval because of the extraordinary amount of positive data."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
'Solitude has become a notable, and worrisome, trend of our times'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Blake Lively accuses rom-com costar of smear job
Speed Read The actor accused Justin Baldoni, her director and costar on "It Ends With Us," of sexual harassment and a revenge campaign
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Germany arrests anti-Islam Saudi in SUV attack
Speed Read The attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg left five people dead and more than 200 wounded
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Marty Makary: the medical contrarian who will lead the FDA
In the Spotlight What Johns Hopkins surgeon and commentator Marty Makary will bring to the FDA
By David Faris Published
-
California declares bird flu emergency
Speed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study finds
Speed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes risk
Speed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 race
Speed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
McDonald's sued over E. coli linked to burger
Speed Read The outbreak has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states and left one dead
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Long Covid: study shows damage to brain's 'control centre'
The Explainer Research could help scientists understand long-term effects of Covid-19 as well as conditions such as MS and dementia
By The Week UK Published
-
FDA OKs new Covid vaccine, available soon
Speed read The CDC recommends the new booster to combat the widely-circulating KP.2 strain
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published