On August 23, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, now branded as Comirnaty. The vaccine was approved for the prevention of COVID-19 in individuals aged 16 and older. It remains available under emergency use authorization (EUA) for people aged 12 to 15 and for administering a third dose to certain immunocompromised individuals.
Speaking on the development, then Acting FDA Commissioner, Janet Woodcock said, "The FDA's approval of this vaccine is a milestone as we continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. While this and other vaccines have met the FDA's rigorous scientific standards for emergency use authorization, as the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, the public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality the FDA requires of an approved product''.
Image credit: CT.gov
The discovery, production and eventually full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for use against Covid-19 came as a major ray of hope because it was at the height of the global pandemic when hundreds of thousands of people had died from the virus in different countries around the world. Notably, this breakthrough came from the US- a country people from many other countries of the world look up to for solution and sadly too, the country that was the worst hit as it had the highest number of deaths recorded from the virus until the vaccine came on board.
Other key events on this day
1. Japan declared war on Germany in World War I - 1914
2. Black soldiers staged sit‑in at Fort Hood - 1968
3. U.S. B-24 crashed into school in Freckelton England, 76 killed - 1944
4. Armenia declared independence from the Soviet Union - 1990
5. American basketball player, Kobe Bryant was born - 1978
6. Romania switched sides during World War II - 1944
7. John Lennon wedded Cynthia Powell - 1962
8. A Gulf Air Airbus crashed into the Persian Gulf near Bahrain, killing all 143 people aboard - 2000.
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