{"id":350544,"date":"2021-08-25T06:05:09","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T20:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=350544"},"modified":"2021-08-25T06:05:09","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T20:05:09","slug":"a-chorus-of-praise-for-fdas-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/a-chorus-of-praise-for-fdas-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"A chorus of praise for FDA\u2019s approval"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said yesterday that the CNMI is grateful to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration\u2019s full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech\u2019s vaccine, saying this serves as proper justification for the legitimacy of the vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a echoed this, saying that FDA\u2019s approval of the vaccine should \u201creassure anyone with concerns on the efficacy and safety of these vaccines.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Torres said they are looking forward to seeing the other vaccines get the same authorization, as well as more of the people in the CNMI getting protected. The other vaccines being administered in the United States that are still under the FDA\u2019s \u201cEmergency Use Authorization\u201d are Moderna and the Janssen vaccine of Johnson &amp; Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are almost there, CNMI. Together, we can be stronger with the protection the vaccine provides, and by looking out for another,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Torres said front-liners, doctors, and nurses from the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and the COVID-19 Task Force have worked very hard over the course of the last year and a half to keep the community safe. He said vaccination of the people remains the ultimate goal in defeating this virus.<\/p>\n<p>Mu\u00f1a also continues to emphasize the importance of getting vaccinated. \u201cWe are fortunate that here in the CNMI, the rate of vaccinations for eligible persons is substantial. However, when the rest of the globe is experiencing low vaccination rates and high transmission of COVID-19, more dangerous variants can still emerge. \u2026The FDA\u2019s full approval of the Pfizer vaccine is definitely an important milestone that should reassure anyone with concerns on the efficacy and safety of these vaccines. The full approval was given after stringent data analysis and I hope those unvaccinated consider the full approval and get vaccinated if eligible to continue to keep the CNMI safe,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n<p>The Office of the Governor of Guam also issued yesterday statements from both Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio. Leon Guerrero said the FDA approval should give those who have delayed receiving their shots added confidence, and Tenorio looks forward to more vaccines becoming fully approved by the FDA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince December, our island\u2019s front-liners have administered over 129,000 Pfizer shots in arms, and the move from Emergency Use Authorization to full approval gives those who have delayed their shots the added confidence to get the vaccine. We welcome the full approval from the FDA, which affirms our latest executive order requiring proof of at least one shot to enter establishments and participate in events where mask-wearing is compromised. More than safeguarding the progress we\u2019ve made to date, more vaccinations means greater protection for our fragile healthcare system and our limited resources, both at the Guam Memorial Hospital and the Guam Regional Medical City,\u201d said Leon Guerrero.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor those of us who are eligible for the vaccine, we must do everything we can to protect those unable to receive their shots. We protect our children and our vulnerable family members by surrounding them with vaccinated individuals. With Pfizer paving the way, we look forward to the other COVID-19 vaccines receiving full authorization and more of our community receiving the protection the vaccine provides,\u201d said Tenorio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said yesterday that the CNMI is grateful to the U.S. Food&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":350555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[11021],"class_list":["post-350544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-fda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}