FDA

Vaccines for a fall immunization drive against COVID-19 just got the green light from the Food and Drug Administration. The agency says the vaccines can protect people, as hospitalizations tick up.

The Director of the Center for Tobacco Research and co-leader of the Cancer Control Program at the OSU James Hospital said the FDA's decision came as a big surprise.

The company "will finally be held accountable for creating the youth vaping epidemic," the advocacy group Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes told NPR. Juul said it plans to fight the decision.

The chance of dying after receiving the Janssen vaccine is about 1:2,000,000. But with multiple COVID-19 vaccines available, the FDA is limiting the use of the J&J vaccine.

The agency says the proposal has the potential to significantly decrease disease and death from tobacco by "reducing youth experimentation and addiction."

The medicine, called molnupiravir, is taken twice a day for five days and works by preventing the virus from replicating. Merck says it will have 10 million packs available by the end of the month.

The new at-home COVID treatment is currently available in limited quantities to states and territories. Some states will get as few as 120 courses of treatment at first.

The FDA on Friday granted emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna booster shots. The boosters have already been available for people 65 and older and to high-risk adults.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce later this week that it is authorizing boosters for people 18 or older, even if they aren't at risk for severe disease.

The approval replaces the emergency use authorizations granted last December and could make it easier for employers, the military and universities to mandate vaccination.