Pfizer Vaccine Full Approval. How Much Will it Matter?

On Monday the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, named Comirnaty[1], received full FDA approval. Example news coverage: Yahoo! News article 23 Aug 2021. For months it had been approved under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Tens of millions of people in the US—including me— received the drug under the EUA. Tens of millions more received Moderna and J&J vaccines which are still under EUA.

"Full approval will encourage a lot more people to get the vaccine," many people are saying. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the President, says so, in this interview with MSNBC (24 Aug 2021):

Watch on YouTube

It's interesting how Fauci breaks out three factors that will drive increased vaccination. The first is that people who've been rejecting the vaccine the past 9 months will come off the sidelines now that there's full FDA approval instead of an EUA. Many of these people cite insufficiently proven safety/efficacy as (one of) their reasons for refusing vaccination.

Coincidentally I was discussing the same issue with friends Sunday. I actually disagree with Fauci on this point[2]. I think the approximately 30% of the US who are vaccine rejectors will not be swayed by this approval.

To understand why you have to understand how people opposed to the vaccine actually think about it. Though they routinely cite arguments such as the EUA being "rushed" and not full FDA approval, such arguments are not reasons, they are justifications. Very few vaccine rejectors are making a good faith decision on actual scientific data or fact. They have made their decision based on emotional appeal rooted in personal identity. Facts are only relevant to the extent they support their predetermined conclusions. When one fact changes, like the EUA being replaced with full FDA approval, they'll pick something else. Or even make something up. Just watch... "It's only an emergency authorization, not full FDA approval" will change to things like, "We don't trust the FDA anyway."

Thankfully there is a way in which this approval will increase vaccination rates. It's what Fauci cited as the second factor: that with full approval now granted more businesses and organizations will start requiring vaccination. A variety of companies started doing this weeks ago, but many had held back as the vaccines had only emergency approval. With yesterday's full approval, for example, the US military announced that it would mandate all service members be vaccinated. Example coverage: CBS News article, updated 24 Aug 2021. Many companies are doing the same.


1.Yeah, I never saw that name before yesterday, either.
2. Note that in disagreeing with Dr. Fauci I do not purport to be smarter or better informed than him. I see him speaking as a public official about how he'd like people to think about the pandemic, not offering a critical analysis of how some people actually do think (as I've done here).

Hiking Whale Peak Loop

Last Saturday we drove down the Central Coast to go hiking at Garrapata State Park. Again. Yes, we'd been there just 7 days earlier. The weather was poor with fog covering the coast all day. Though we made the best of it we still felt let down... so we decided to go again this past weekend, aiming for better weather. Well, it turns out this weekend's weather was worse. 😰 But again, we didn't let that deter us. We visited not one but two parks. Here's more detail— and pics as I've promised— from Garrapata State Park.

We set off from near our usual trailhead at Garrapata. Parking at the usual trailhead itself was packed— unusual for the gloomy weather, IMO— but we found a space at a roadside pullout slightly up the hill where the road crosses below Whale Peak. Thus I decided to call this trip the Whale Peak Loop in my notes.



From the roadside gate we hiked the loop trail down at first, going out to the rugged ocean cliffs at the base of Whale Peak. This is the same general area as where we hiked the ocean cliffs a week earlier. Indeed it was on that hike that I spotted this trail, which I hadn't even thought about hiking before. So here we are. The rugged cliffs are always beautiful, and the mixture of red and green colors in the hardy plants clinging to the bluffs is surprising.



The main loop trail around Whale Peak isn't very long. Our guidebook rates it at less than 2 miles. I believe we hiked at least 3 miles on this trek, though, as almost immediately we went off the main trail to visit additional vista points.

From above the tiny pocket beach in the first pic we followed a foot trail around the cliffs to the right. From there we enjoyed great view up and down the coast. In the pic immediately above you can see back to the mainland. Rocky Ridge disappears up into the clouds just right of center near the top of the frame. On previous trips we almost always focused on hiking Rocky Ridge. The previous weekend's hike and this one are serendipities of the Rocky Ridge trail being closed due to fire damage.



We continued working our way around the ocean bluffs, still off the main loop trail but following well worn foot paths. The rugged cliffs never ceased to be enchanting, nor did the unexpectedly brilliant reds and greens covering them.

So, where's this Whale Peak I named this blog for? Well, the answer is in all these pics it's basically behind me. 😂 I'll share the view from the top in Part 2. To be continued!

Update: Keep reading in Part 2!

RIP, Charlie Watts

On Tuesday this week Charlie Watts passed away. For those who are like, "Who?" the answer is "No, not the Who, the Stones." 😅 Watts was the drummer for the Rolling Stones. Maybe you've heard of them? They're an English rock band that hit it big in the mid 1960s and has basically been touring for the past 55 years.

As you might imagine from the phrase "touring for the past 55 years" the members of the band are getting on in years. Watts was age 80. He was older than lead singer Mick Jagger, 78, and guitarist Keith Richards, 77.

While Watts was the oldest of the Rolling Stones he wasn't the one I would've expected to pass on first. He lived his life more cleanly than his band mates. The years showed less harshly on his face. Even 20-25 years ago Jagger already looked like a wax figure of himself with hollow cheeks and spindly limbs, and Richards looked like a wax figure that had been left in a hot room and started to melt. Indeed, of rock musicians coming out of the era of the 1960s, many of whom died of their own vices in their 20s, Watts has always been the picture of aging gracefully.

In music drummers often don't get much respect. There are tons of jokes out there about drummers. "What do you call a person who hangs out with musicians? A drummer." "How can you tell if the stage is level? The drummer is drooling out of both sides of his mouth." "How do you get a drummer off your porch? Pay him for the pizza." Indeed, in school the students with the least musical aptitude are pointed toward the drums. How much real talent is needed anyway? In many styles of popular music the drumming is completely formulaic. More and more modern performers skip hiring a drummer to use a computer instead. But having a genuine talent in percussion makes a difference. A good drummer both keeps the beat with the song and drives it. Watts had that talent. He helped make the Stones they success they are.