December 11, 2020
With the COVID-19 death count about to rack up yet another grim milestone (300,000) it’s been real hard to see any silver lining in this toxic cloud that we’ve been under all year. But yesterday a ray of hope poked through: an FDA Advisory Committee voted to recommend emergency use authorization of the first vaccine against this vexatious disease here. Emergency use approval is expected to follow shortly and the actual shots could begin to roll out soon after that. Pfizer and BioNTech are the two companies who developed this vaccine.
Although this doesn’t signal the end of COVID-19, it’s definitely an important step. Emergency use authorization means the vaccine’s performance will be monitored as the shots go out, and maybe even revoked if complications appear. For one thing, since this vac has only been around for a couple of months, how long the immunity it provides lasts is unknown. Hopefully, no complications and long lasting immunity so we can begin to put this miserable thing behind us at last.
Fingers crossed!