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After delaying their work for weeks, the United States Food and Drug Administration has released their initial findings on the COVID-19 vaccine produced by the company Pfizer. In their first analysis released to the public, the FDA has confirmed what an independent board told Pfizer: their vaccine is both very safe and very effective.

Pfizer originally filed with the FDA for Emergency Use Authorization in November but the regulators announced they would wait nearly a month before even discussing the vaccine. This is Unlike in the United Kingdom, where regulators were proactively working with Pfizer and approved their vaccine a week ago. The first vaccine was given in the UK today, before the US has even approved its vaccine.

In the new analysis from the FDA, they confirm that the Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective and has no serious side effects. The only side effects noted were similar to the side effects you could experience with nearly any injection, including headache, fatigue, and soreness near the injection site.

Perhaps the biggest surprise from the FDA analysis is that the Pfizer vaccine offers heavy protection after just one of the two doses suggested. After the full two doses, patients will receive the full 95% effectiveness, but can achieve 89% effectiveness after just the first shot. 

Dr. Martha Whyte, the Director of Region 7 for the Louisiana Department Of Health, told our news affiliate KEEL News that the state of Louisiana will have the vaccine quickly. First, in waves, but she says that when the FDA gives Pfizer the go ahead, they will ramp up production and we will have more and more doses.

During her discussion, she also predicted that we would have enough people vaccinated to return to normalcy by the late winter or spring of 2021.

 

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