Fauci Says Vaccines Lacking Full FDA Approval a 'Technical Issue'

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, dismissed the fact that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved vaccines for the Chinese coronavirus as merely a “technical issue.”

For months, Fauci has branded himself, quite literally, the voice of science. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases chief has routinely dismissed critiques against him as attacks on science itself.

“It is essential as a scientist that you evolve your opinion and your recommendations based on the data as it evolves,” he said during a June appearance on the podcast Sway.

“And that’s the reason why I say people who then criticize me about that are actually criticizing science,” he added, attributing his continual pivots — such as dismissing drug store masks as “not really effective” to becoming a leading voice pushing their use — to being consistent with science.

Now, Fauci is backing the Biden administration’s efforts to convince unvaccinated Americans to get the jab, flatly dismissing concerns over the FDA’s lack of approval, a factor the Biden administration has routinely ignored.

While Fauci said it is “understandable” that some may want the FDA’s full approval before getting the shot, he dismissed it as nothing more than a ” technical issue.”

“It’s the FDA dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s,” he said during an appearance on ABC’s This Week. “But there’s no doubt in my mind that these vaccines are going to get full approval because of the extraordinary amount of positive data.”

Despite a lack of FDA approval for the regular vaccine series, Pfizer is set to meet with U.S. health officials to request authorization for a third jab, branded as a booster.

“We believe that the third dose will raise the antibody response 10- to 20- fold,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said of a third coronavirus shot, likening it to an annual flu vaccine.

However, Fauci has dismissed the need for a third shot at this point, contending more Americans need to be vaccinated first.

“There’s a lot of work going on to examine this in real time to see if we might need a boost. But right now, given the data that the CDC and the FDA has, they don’t feel that we need to tell people right now you need to be boosted,” Fauci said.

A Morning Consult poll released this month showed a plurality, 49 percent, attributing their vaccine hesitancy to safety concerns and a lack of trust in the expedited development of the vaccines:

The public campaign to encourage vaccination has also made some Americans wary: “The fact that they’re offering money to take, tells me that something is wrong,” one respondent said. Another added they’re not getting vaccinated because of “the way the media and government are pushing it.”

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Many respondents cited multiple concerns, indicating an overall wariness of new vaccines that have been heavily politicized since the early days of the pandemic. People also ranged from ambivalent to wholly opposed to vaccination, underscoring that America’s holdouts don’t all fit neatly into the category of “vaccine hesitant.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s July 11 data, over 159 million people in the U.S. are considered “fully vaccinated,” comprising 48 percent of the country’s total population.