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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will make statements about his administration’s Covid-19 vaccination and response efforts following the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to fully approve Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine.
FDA approval for the vaccine on Monday, the first in the United States to win the coveted designation, is slated to give even more confidence to companies, schools and universities across the country to adopt vaccine mandates.
The mRNA vaccine, which will be marketed as Comirnaty, was on the U.S. market under an emergency use authorization granted by the FDA in December. Since then, more than 204 million shots of Pfizer have been administered, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prior to the president’s remarks, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the Department of Defense was preparing updated guidelines that require all members of the service to receive the Pfizer vaccine.
“Providing a timetable to complete vaccination in the coming days, the health of the force, of our military and civilian employees, families and communities is a top priority,” Kirby said.
The president can also provide information on emergency evacuations in Kabul of U.S. citizens, U.S. embassy staff, citizens of NATO countries, at-risk Afghan nationals, as well as Afghan nationals who are at risk. have qualified to obtain special immigrant visas.
CNBC Berkely Lovelace has contributed to this report of New York.