There are still a few ways this could play out. First, we all knew May, 2020 was looming. Flavors were always going to be a stumbling block, as with hundreds of flavors, each with several ingredients, all being mixed in different proportions in different rations of PG/VG and varying strengths of nic, establishing safety was going to be a nightmare. In fact, I can't think of any sound way to even do it. The matrix is too large. That right there would have likely thrown on the brakes, but without the media attention, hysteria, and mobilization of the vaping community. And as the PMTA process would then be spread over another year of FDA evaluating all the applications that were made, we would have seen a slow, agonizing, and probably quiet death occur to vaping.
Now, we had a public health emergency. Kids on ventilators. People dead. And it was all vaping! The politicians are jumping up and down with a cause to pander to the public with. Then it turns out nope, wasn't us nicotine vapers, it was those THC vapers using an illegal products. Now, politicians being how they are, weren't about to go "sorry, my bad, never mind", so they doubled down on flavors and save the children.
Thanks to that, the vaping community has erupted in flat out anger. It also turns out there were a lot more of us willing to make noise than I think they realized existed or the push back they'd get. So we have a bit of a standoff for now. But when May comes around, the FDA is now on notice that throwing up obstacles to flavored vape juice will result in not just some lawsuits (they're used to those and couldn't care less) but in lots, as in hundreds of thousands of activist vapers confronting them, with several million more vapers in the background who if they're not stupid enough to go back to smoking, will give pause that may well have not otherwise occurred. So they MIGHT (and that a big might) decide to take a longer watch and see on flavors rather than a flat out "you can't prove it's safe" approach. Again, MIGHT, but it's the type of pragmatic solution to a sketchy political problem.
Then there are the states. The actions being taken on a state and even city basis are all justified on the lack of any federal action, therefore taking this into their local hands. But what happens when there ARE concrete approvals and guidelines from the Feds? Does federal preemption prevail? The states and cities aren't as sanguine about lawsuits as the FDA, and all the other fed agencies can be, because they don't have the deep pockets or the deep roster of a big Justice Department to back them up. There was a case several years ago in NY during the last state attack to treat vaping as smoking for regulatory and tax purposes and the State Court of Appeals was like "this sure doesn't look or smell like a cigarette" and tossed it. That's precedent, at least in NY.
This will take lots of thought by some very bright legal eagles on the vaping side. This mass media and political attacks (most important, politicians, as they hate to look like fools or be wrong) on vaping when it wasn't even vaping, as we know it, that caused these illnesses, suffer a loss of credibility, not so much to the public, but to the agencies involved who jumped the gun and allowed for such an inappropriate hostile environment to erupt in the first place.
The FDA now has a presidential tweet (which seems to be the way we now govern this nation

) about alternative and black market stuff as the problem and keep it out of the hands of kids, but not those who need it. And most of us here need it to stay away from a product that was killing us (still is if you're not 15-20 years out, to be sure whatever illness you develop isn't related to your past smoking history) not get a buzz or blow clouds. That's the message that has to be hammered home over the next weeks and months. This isn't something we do for fun, it's something we do to save our lives.
This is why we need a coordinated #vapingsaveslives campaign. Stay on message, gather and present every piece of objective positive medical research available, and put our opponents on the defensive for a change. Let them see the faces of middle age and older vapers desperate to stay away from cigarettes, and not the little brats blowing rings outside their school. Their parents and grandparents trying to stay around a little longer to spend time with their loved ones. Shift the camera angle some.
I'd love to have an economic report out of the UK's NHS of how much money is saved on transitioning smokers to vaping and decreasing medical utilization and resources. It's unfortunate it's too early for that information, but that would be powerful, especially with all the talk about healthcare, insurance, and how much it really costs. Because it's not free, someone is paying for it all, even in the UK as we sometimes forget here in the US. And it's not coming out of the polticians pockets.
Edit: there are more typos in this than proper words. I'm cleaning it up as best I can. No, you don't have to wait 120 years to be sure what you died from wasn't from your past smoking. If you do live another 120 years to assure the accuracy of my statement you're gonna need a bigger freezer and a lot more nic.