Yesterday, Monday, federal regulators granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. This could help increase inoculation rates amid the surge in new cases and alarmingly increasing hospitalization cases caused by the delta variant.

This step by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marks the first licensing of a vaccine for the coronavirus, which has swept countries, wearing health care providers out and raising fears among the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

The licensing is a milestone with possible major effects, experts said.

In a statement, FDA acting commissioner Janet Woodcock said, “As the first FDA-approved covid-19 vaccine, the public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality the FDA requires of an approved product.”

On his part, President Biden promoted the FDA’s full approval of the vaccine Monday and implored unvaccinated Americans to get the shot.

“If you’re one of the millions of Americans who said that they will not get the shot … until it has full and final approval of the FDA, it has now happened. The moment you’ve been waiting for is here. It’s time for you to go get your vaccination and get it today,” Biden said.

It is noteworthy that the vaccine approval was the fastest in the FDA’s history, coming less than four months after Pfizer-BioNTech filed for licensing on May 7, and experts are hoping through this approval to persuade the hesitant to accept getting a shot.