FDA may give full approval to COVID vaccines in August: Fauci

The country’s top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has said that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will fully approve vaccines that protect against COVID-19 in August. Fauci said he expects to have full approval by the end of the month, USA Today reported.

“I don’t predict, but I expect it to happen in the next few weeks,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The COVID vaccines developed by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have so far only been approved for emergency-use by the FDA. The report said that the agency may soon give full approval to Pfizer.

Fauci underscored the importance of getting vaccinated early on to the millions of Americans who remain unvaccinated. He said the full FDA would pursue approval. The White House’s chief medical adviser estimates that there are about 93 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not been vaccinated.

Furthermore, a full approval could prompt new vaccine mandates in private businesses, a move public health officials praise, the report said.

Last week, Fauci warned that the US could see a more lethal version of COVID-19 than Delta, which could breach the protection provided by current vaccines, as the country is among the worst-hit with the world’s highest number of cases.

According to the latest update from Johns Hopkins University on Monday morning, the number of infections in the US stands at 35,762,751, while the death toll is 616,827. Fauci predicted that a fully approved vaccine would empower local enterprises, the report said.