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FDA Authorizes Covid Boosters; New Fed Chair Soon?
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Friday, November 19, 2021
This morning, the FDA has officially authorized the use of third vaccine shots — “boosters” — from both the Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) /BioNTech (BNTX - Free Report) and Moderna (MRNA - Free Report) treatments. This amounts to a switch in policy from two months ago, when the FDA halted an authorization for all vaccinated adults based on slim data coming in from Israel.
Two months later, the data speaks much more clearly: adults who receive booster vaccine shots will be much more highly immunized from Covid-19 than those simply “fully vaccinated” (these terms may need to give way to more accurate descriptions at some point). We are less than a week before the first big Thanksgiving holiday in two years: this FDA recommendation could not possibly come at a more advantageous time.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has yet to formally make its recommendation, which it does following FDA judgments, but CDC Director Rochelle Walensky assured that the Center “will act swiftly” in making its own recommendation. Booster shots have been administrated to adults other than the elderly and at-risk workers, who were already green-lighted for booster shots, but today’s announcement gets overall vaccination policy closer to the same page.
President Biden has yet to make a decision whether or not to keep Fed Chair Jay Powell installed or replaced, likely with Fed President Lael Brainard. In recent weeks, the rallying call for a switch to Brainard has come from notable progressives in Congress, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has taken Powell to task in public hearings on the Fed in the recent past.
In reality, a switch to Brainard wouldn’t be too drastic a change from Powell; after all, Powell himself had stubbornly kept asset purchases in place far beyond inflation reaching the optimum 2%, with the other segment of the Fed’s dual mandate — full employment — in mind. As a result, employment figures have grown more strongly than initially registered, and at higher levels of wage growth. These are similar results to what Brainard would be interested in generating.
There is the question of whether Biden would feel the need to put in his own choice for Fed Chair; Powell replaced President Obama’s choice Janet Yellen by President Trump (even though Trump was often verbally critical about Powell’s unwillingness to end asset purchases and raise interest rates much sooner). Brainard, being a woman, would also assist the Biden administration’s goals to make presidential appointments “look more like America,” meaning not strictly white males installed in important posts like Fed Chair.
The Dow is -190 points ahead of the opening bell, looking at a down-week overall after a strong start, the S&P 500 is -7 points at this hour but still may conclude the week higher, and the Nasdaq keeps its strength intact, +75 points ahead of the open to the final trading day of the week. Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>
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FDA Authorizes Covid Boosters; New Fed Chair Soon?
Friday, November 19, 2021
This morning, the FDA has officially authorized the use of third vaccine shots — “boosters” — from both the Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) /BioNTech (BNTX - Free Report) and Moderna (MRNA - Free Report) treatments. This amounts to a switch in policy from two months ago, when the FDA halted an authorization for all vaccinated adults based on slim data coming in from Israel.
Two months later, the data speaks much more clearly: adults who receive booster vaccine shots will be much more highly immunized from Covid-19 than those simply “fully vaccinated” (these terms may need to give way to more accurate descriptions at some point). We are less than a week before the first big Thanksgiving holiday in two years: this FDA recommendation could not possibly come at a more advantageous time.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has yet to formally make its recommendation, which it does following FDA judgments, but CDC Director Rochelle Walensky assured that the Center “will act swiftly” in making its own recommendation. Booster shots have been administrated to adults other than the elderly and at-risk workers, who were already green-lighted for booster shots, but today’s announcement gets overall vaccination policy closer to the same page.
President Biden has yet to make a decision whether or not to keep Fed Chair Jay Powell installed or replaced, likely with Fed President Lael Brainard. In recent weeks, the rallying call for a switch to Brainard has come from notable progressives in Congress, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has taken Powell to task in public hearings on the Fed in the recent past.
In reality, a switch to Brainard wouldn’t be too drastic a change from Powell; after all, Powell himself had stubbornly kept asset purchases in place far beyond inflation reaching the optimum 2%, with the other segment of the Fed’s dual mandate — full employment — in mind. As a result, employment figures have grown more strongly than initially registered, and at higher levels of wage growth. These are similar results to what Brainard would be interested in generating.
There is the question of whether Biden would feel the need to put in his own choice for Fed Chair; Powell replaced President Obama’s choice Janet Yellen by President Trump (even though Trump was often verbally critical about Powell’s unwillingness to end asset purchases and raise interest rates much sooner). Brainard, being a woman, would also assist the Biden administration’s goals to make presidential appointments “look more like America,” meaning not strictly white males installed in important posts like Fed Chair.
The Dow is -190 points ahead of the opening bell, looking at a down-week overall after a strong start, the S&P 500 is -7 points at this hour but still may conclude the week higher, and the Nasdaq keeps its strength intact, +75 points ahead of the open to the final trading day of the week.
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>