UK Becomes First Country To Approve Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine — First Shots Will Roll Out Next Week
On Wednesday, the U.K. became the first country to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use, marking another step in the global battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
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According to CNBC, the vaccine will begin to roll out in the country next week. Elderly people in care homes along with medical workers will be the first to receive a dose. This move makes the U.K. government the first in the world to formally approve the U.S.-German vaccine for widespread use, and it means Britain will be one of the first countries to begin vaccinating its population.
“The government has today accepted the recommendation from the Independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for use,” the government said Wednesday. “The vaccine will be made available across the U.K. from next week.” Meanwhile, Pfizer’s Chairman and CEO, Dr. Albert Bourla, marked the news as a “historic moment,” the news site quotes.
“This authorization is a goal we have been working toward since we first declared that science will win, and we applaud the MHRA for their ability to conduct a careful assessment and take timely action to help protect the people of the U.K.,” he said. “With thousands of people becoming infected, every day matters in the collective race to end this devastating pandemic.”
As we previously reported, emergency use approval in the United States is also currently under review by the FDA.
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