The White House hasn’t yet taken a stance on whether school districts can mandate coronavirus vaccinations to return to school this fall, said a top administration official.
Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser to the White House COVID-19 Response Team, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Tuesday that those decisions would be made locally and might require full approval of the vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration.
“My understanding is that [vaccinations] can’t be required until it goes from authorization to approval from the FDA,” Slavitt said, CNN reported.
Three vaccines — the two-dose versions by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna and the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot — currently have emergency-use authorization from the FDA. However, full approval requires a separate application from the manufacturer.
None of the vaccines have been approved for people older than 16, though the FDA is expected to authorize Pfizer’s for use on 12-to-15-year-olds in the coming days.
