The UK has become the first Western nation to approve a Covid-19 vaccine, a milestone moment in the pandemic of corona virus that paves the way for next week’s first doses to be rolled out across the nation.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock declared on Wednesday morning that “Help is on the way,” after UK regulators granted emergency authorization for a vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
A final review of the Phase 3 vaccine trial showed that the vaccine was 95 percent successful in infection prevention, even in older adults, and did not pose any significant safety concerns, Pfizer said last month.
The announcement means that, months into a pandemic that has killed nearly 1.5 million people worldwide, the UK has vaulted past the United States and the European Union in the race to approve a vaccine.
On Wednesday, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin told CNN in an exclusive interview, “We believe it is really the start of the end of the pandemic,” The emergency authorization was hailed by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla as a historic moment in the battle against Covid-19.’
40 million doses of the vaccine have been requested by the UKâenough to vaccinate 20 million people. Hancock told the BBC that next week an initial 800,000 doses will be shipped to the UK from Pfizer’s Belgium facilities, and many millions” more by the end of the year.
The top of the priority list would be elderly people in nursing homes, those who care for them, health workers and other disadvantaged individuals.