The FDA has now given full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for those over the age of 16. According to local health officials, that full-approval status seems to be easing some fears for those who had been waiting to get a shot.
Leyna Mashburn, the Immunization Coordinator with District 2 Public Health in North Georgia says she has heard from people who were waiting for that stamp of approval from the USFDA before getting a vaccine.
“We do a daily count and it looks like so far for this week Pfizer has definitely had a higher rate of administrator in our district than the other two vaccines,” says Mashburn. “Our administration rate overall has been higher than it has been in previous weeks on a daily basis.”
Mashburn says she understands the full approval seems to be helping with vaccine hesitancy, but she believes the FDA went the extra mile to verify the safety of all three vaccines for emergency use authorization.
She says all you have to do is look at the numbers from the local hospital system. “My message this whole time has been that the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective and our current rate of hospitalizations and looking at the data of the patients who are vaccinated versus those who are unvaccinated really speaks to the effectiveness of the vaccine because it’s a very low hospitalization rate for vaccinated patients.”
Currently 260 patients are being treated at Northeast Georgia Health System hospitals for COVID. Of those, just 39 have had breakthrough COVID cases - that's 15 percent. The other 85-percent are unvaccinated.
Mashburn says if the Moderna and J&J vaccines can now get the same approval, that will make her job - and that of other health care providers - much less stressful. “We are hoping that in time they will receive the same FDA approval and we are also hoping that the 12-15 year old recommendation will also be FDA approved and hopefully it will increase confidence in the other vaccines, as well.”
Anyone who wants to get a vaccine at any of the 13 county health departments under the District 2 umbrella can do so by making an appointment or just by walking up during designated business hours. You can find more on the hours and locations at phdistrict2.org.
