Approved Thursday, August 26, 2021
FDA backs Pfizer vaccine Anna Pope News Editor
File Photo
FDA has approved the COVID-19 vaccine.
One COVID-19 vaccine down, two more to go. Under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been available since Dec. 2020. Now, it now has the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval for people over 16 years of age. However for those who are 12-15 years old the vaccine is under EUA. The recent approval is not the only thing changing, the vaccine will now be marketed as Comirnaty. While this is only one of three COVID-19 vaccines to be FDA approved, many people received the shot before having the backing of the FDA. The University Health Services (UHS) is reporting 8,301 fully vaccinated individuals who received the vaccine from UHS and 176 active
cases. In a statement the FDA reports vaccines meeting the its standards for safety, effectiveness and quality are reviewed by the agency using data and information in the manufacturer’s submission of a biologics license application (BLA) according to the FDA. This contains information supporting the vaccine’s EUA. Information includes the details of the manufacturing process, vaccine testing results, inspections where the vaccine is made, and preclinical and clinical data. According to the FDA, the vaccine contains messenger RNA (mRNA). This mimics one of the proteins that causes COVID-19. The mRNA in the vaccine is in the body for a short amount of time and will not change a person’s genetic material. While the vaccine is under a different name, the FDA said it is made out of the same genetic material and will continue to be given in two doses three weeks apart. news.ed@ocolly.com
Cars and cat food
Aubrey Layton
A cat resting underneath a parked car in the Student Union Garage.
Emily Stuart Staff Reporter
The Oklahoma State’s Student Union parking garage is well known to students, faculty and visitors. However, there is one furry group calling this garage home. Often found lounging under cars on the ground level, feral cats have lived and been fed in this garage
for many years. Many students are not aware of this cat sanctuary but, when individuals take a stroll down the stairs of the garage, the familiar smell of cat food will fill the air. “I have worked at OSU for 17 years, and I’ve known of the cats in the Student Union garage for approximately 10 of those years now,” said Ruthie Loffi, the administrative assistant for OSU’s Leadership and Campus Life. It has been speculated the cats
were encouraged, through the use of food, to stay and control a rat problem, but there is no confirmation of this. “I assumed it might be a combination of that along with the sad fact that they are part of a larger feral cat situation in Stillwater in which cats were simply abandoned,” Loffi said. “Being the resourceful creatures they are, they realized that the garage potentially had a food source they could take advantage of.”
This food source is that of a mysterious caretaker who has avoided the eyes of not only those who use the lot every day, but workers like Baylee Washington, a senior parking lot attendant. “I don’t know how long she’s here or when she gets here, but it’s before I’m here,” Baylee Washington said. See Cat on 2