DM Monitoring
LONDON: Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use and said that it will be rolled out from early next week.
A vaccine is seen as the best chance for the world to get back to some semblance of normality amid a global pandemic which has killed nearly 1.5 million people and upended the global economy.
“The government on Wednesday 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.
“The vaccine will be made available across the UK from next week.”
Britain’s vaccine committee will decide which priority groups will get the jab first such as care home residents, health and care staff, the elderly and people who are clinically extremely vulnerable. Both Pfizer-BioNTech and U.S. biotech firm Moderna have reported preliminary findings of more than 90% effectiveness – an unexpectedly high rate – in trials of their vaccines, which are both based on new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.
Pfizer said Britain’s emergency use authorization marks a historic moment in the fight against COVID-19.
“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.,” said CEO Albert Bourla.
“As we anticipate further authorizations and approvals, we are focused on moving with the same level of urgency to safely supply a high-quality vaccine around the world.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the programme would begin early next week. Hospitals, he said, were already ready to receive it.
“It is very good news,” Hancock said.
Other countries are not far behind. The US and the European Union also are vetting the Pfizer shot along with the vaccine by competitor Moderna.
Pfizer said it would immediately begin shipping limited supplies to the UK – and has been gearing up for even wider distribution if given a similar nod by the US Food and Drug Administration, a decision expected as early as next week.
The UK will start vaccinating people early next week after it gets 800,000 doses from Pfizer’s manufacturing centre in Belgium. The speed of the rollout depends on how fast Pfizer can manufacture and deliver the vaccine, the UK said.
The shots made by Pfizer and BioNTech were tested in tens of thousands of people.
While that study is not complete, early results suggest the vaccine is 95 percent effective at preventing mild to severe COVID-19 disease. The companies told regulators that of the first 170 infections detected in study volunteers, only eight were among people who had received the actual vaccine and the rest had gotten a dummy shot. “We know that Pfizer can have only 1.3 billion doses by the end of next year. That is definitely not going to vaccinate the world, but we are going to take this first crucial step which is exciting,” Oksana Pyzik, a teaching fellow at the UCL School of Pharmacy said.
