What FDA approval of Pfizer vaccine means for you, local health experts weigh in

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first coronavirus vaccine known as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Tim Perlick, the director of pharmacy services at Desert Regional Medical Center, said it's harder to mandate a vaccine if it's not fully approved by the FDA. But now that Pfizer is approved, he said vaccine mandates may likely happen in valley schools, businesses, and organizations.

"You could probably see some people more mandating it," said Perlick. "Right now, a lot of the mandates are either get tested, show us the proof of your testing, or show us the proof of your vaccination. I think with this vote of confidence, you might see a little stronger hand in that vaccination part... That ability to mandate that would come forward naturally, once we've really had it through our traditional process of validating the drugs."

Currently, the Pfizer vaccine has full FDA approval for people 16 and older. Before, it was only given emergency use authorization (EUA) to people 12 and older. The EUA for people 12 to 16 continues.

Dr. Euthym Kontaxis, the medical director of Eisenhower Health’s Tennity Emergency Department, said more people will likely get the vaccine now that it's approved.

"FDA then gives it its full approval, as opposed to emergency use authorization, which means in a time of crisis, we're going to maybe not have as much data initially as we need," said Kontaxis. "But now that we have the data, we're all comfortable that this is a safe vaccine... I think you'll see some increase in mandates by schools, by businesses."

Kontaxis said hopefully people who were hesitant to get vaccinated under EUA, will now choose to get the vaccine.

But what if you got the Pfizer vaccine before FDA approval? Both health experts agree getting the Pfizer vaccine during EUA was still safe and effective.

“It should give us a little bit of peace of mind to know that the FDA has done a vetting process," said Perlick.

A spokesperson for Desert Care Network said the Pfizer vaccine supply won't be an issue. There's plenty to go around.

"You'll also probably see some more information coming out stronger recommendations for the 12 to16 group that we've been doing, and probably some approvals there," said Perlick.

As far as full approval for the vaccine for kids 12 and under, Perlick said the FDA is pretty stringent when it comes to pediatrics.

"It's a little different than an adult population. So what we may see is a little bit of vote of confidence in the adult populations and the young adults, but going into [pediatrics], [the FDA] is going to be reviewing those independently and taking that category of individuals kind of on its own," said Perlick. "And they are doing some studies in pediatrics, like they are doing also in pregnancy, but they're building that data to really make a full FDA approval."

Dr. Kontaxis also weighed in on the possible future approval of kids 12 and under.

"The more we find it safe in broader populations, the younger the age group will be that this will be an opportunity to offer it to," said Kontaxis. "I don't think the data is there yet, but it's getting there. And we'll have to see how it goes."