The Food and Drug Administration is aiming to fully approve the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by Labor Day or sooner, people familiar with the matter told The New York Times.
Because of the highly contagious Delta variant, coronavirus cases are on the rise across the United States, and the hope is that a full approval will push skeptics to get inoculated. In late 2020, the FDA granted emergency authorization to the Pfizer vaccine, and the company applied for full approval on May 7. Moderna also received emergency authorization for its vaccine, and submitted its application for final approval on June 1.
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