The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s meeting to evaluate whether the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine should be authorized for emergency use is scheduled for Thursday, but it’s already controversial. The meeting comes three weeks after Pfizer submitted its data, and some critics have suggested that this delay has cost lives. A similar issue is likely to arise with other vaccines.

How hard is the FDA is working, really? That question is the focus of the debate, which defines the options as either granting an immediate emergency use authorization, known as an EUA, or waiting.

Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University and writes for the blog Marginal Revolution. His books include “Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero.”