Moderna requests full FDA approval for coronavirus vaccine

Both the Moderna and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines are now under review by the FDA to receive full authorization. Currently, both vaccines have emergency use authorization. Dr. Rambod Rouhbakhsh, Principal Investigator of Clinical Research at Hattiesburg Clinic, says the EUAs are designed to get necessary medicine out to patients quickly once necessary research is completed.

"We've been living under the emergency use authorization of these vaccines because efficacy and data was so good that after about three months worth of data, progressing onto six months, you would think would only help bolster consumer confidence and decrease hesitancy."

But the emergency use authorization does have limits. Dr. Rouhbakhsh says Moderna and Pfizer can not market directly to consumers without the full approval. And he says the phrasing "emergency use authorization" can give consumers the wrong impression that the vaccine has not been tested to an adequate degree. But he says a full authorization could change that.

"It may incidentally raise public confidence in the vaccines. The companies can also market directly to consumers at that point, which they've been unable to do up until now," says Dr. Rouhbakhsh. "And then from a legal standpoint, businesses including the U.S. military will be able to require employees to be vaccinated before being able to work."

More than 1.8 million doses of the Moderna and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines have been administered in Mississippi to date.