SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices rose on Tuesday after U.S. drug regulator granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech SE coronavirus vaccine.
Brent crude oil futures were up 51 cents to $69.26 a barrel by 0725 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) had gained 40 cents to $66.04 per barrel.
Both benchmarks jumped more than 5% on Monday, helped by a weaker U.S. dollar, after marking their biggest week of losses in more than nine months last week.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which last December authorized the Pfizer/BioNtech two-dose vaccine for emergency use, has now issued full approval for use in people age 16 and older, Reuters reported.
Health officials hope the action will convince unvaccinated Americans that the shot is safe and effective, and expect it could also prompt more state and local governments, as well as private employers, to impose vaccine mandates.
“With many corporations and government agencies likely to enforce vaccine mandates, return to office travel should dramatically pick up in the fall,” Reuters quoted Edward Moya, senior analyst at OANDA, as saying.
