FDA approves the first COVID-19 vaccine. Is your business ready to mandate vaccinations? (POLL)

Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it had approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine as the first COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccine also continues to be available under emergency use authorization (EUA), including for individuals 12 through 15 years of age and for administering a third dose in certain immunocompromised individuals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is meeting on Monday, August 30, 2021, to discuss its updated recommendation for this vaccine.

In the meantime, the CDC has published information about obtaining a COVID-19 booster shot, with a stated goal for people to start receiving a COVID-19 booster shot beginning in the fall, with individuals being eligible starting 8 months after they received their second dose of an mRNA vaccine (either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna).

Sorry J&J/Janssen folks. While the CDC believes it likely that people who received a J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine will need a booster dose, no one has greenlit that booster yet. Expect more information in the coming weeks. And, no, people who received the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine cannot get a booster dose of an mRNA (either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) vaccine.

COVID-19 boosters, generally, are subject to FDA authorization and ACIP recommendations. The FDA is independently evaluating a booster dose of the mRNA vaccines to determine safety and effectiveness. ACIP will decide whether to issue a booster dose recommendation based on a thorough review of the evidence.

Does the good news have you re-thinking whether to mandate employee vaccinations? In this blog post from my partner, Amy Epstein Gluck, she runs down employer top concerns and considerations for vaccine mandates.

But, before you check out Amy’s post, take ten seconds and complete this anonymous COVID-19 vaccine poll.

I’ll post the poll results tomorrow. (And I may or may not have a bonkers announcement for a free live COVID-19 Zoom session taking place at Noon ET on Wednesday, September 1.)