FDA Issues Emergency Authorization for Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine

On Friday evening, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the emergency use authorization to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine. The order is for the prevention of COVID-19 for individuals 16 years of age and older. Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are required. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive approval in the United States.

According to the FDA, the most commonly reported side effects, which typically lasted several days, were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, and fever. Of note, more people experienced these side effects after the second dose than after the first dose, so it is important for vaccination providers and recipients to expect that there may be some side effects after either dose, but even more so after the second dose.

At the Friday, December 4 Ohio Coronavirus Press Conference, Governor Mike DeWine said the expected date for the first COVID-19 vaccines to arrive from Pfizer in Ohio is December 15. Of those vaccines, 9,750 will go to hospitals and 88,725 will go to Walgreens and CVS for congregate care settings. You can read the anticipated dates for the COVID-19 vaccine in Ohio here.