UK approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

The United Kingdom on Wednesday became the first Western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine, paving the way for US company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech to begin rolling out their product in the coming days, reported EFE.

After license approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA), the vaccine will be made available across the UK from next week, the British Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Health Minister Matt Hancock confirmed on his Twitter account Wednesday that "the NHS (National Health Service) stands ready to start vaccinating early next week."

The health ministry said the approval "follows months of rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA who have concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “It’s fantastic that @MHRAgovuk has formally authorised the @Pfizer/@BioNTech_Group vaccine for Covid-19. The vaccine will begin to be made available across the UK from next week.

“It’s the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again.”

The UK is set to have 800,000 doses in the first batch of the rollout.

MHRA chief June Raine, chair of the Commission on Human Medicine Expert Working Group, Munir Pirmohamed, and chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation Wei Shen Lim detailed the rollout of the vaccine in a press conference.

Raine hammered home a message that “no corners” were cut in the approval of the vaccine.

“The MHRA’s recommendation has been reached following an extremely thorough and scientifically-rigorous review of all the evidence of safety, of effectiveness and of quality of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.”

The experts presented a list of nine priority groups for the vaccine.

The first group includes care home residents and carers, followed by people over 80 and frontline health and social workers.

Group three includes everyone over 75, then the over 70s and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable to Covid-19, while group five will be the over 65s.

Anyone aged between 16-64 with underlying health conditions will be eligible in group six and then the over 60s, 55s and 50s will be covered by the final three groups respectively.

The UK had already reached an agreement with Pfizer for the purchase of 40 million doses – enough for 20 million people (requiring two doses each).

In final clinical trials, the vaccine was shown to be 95 percent effective, and consistent across age, gender, race and ethnicity demographics, according to Pfizer.

"Today’s Emergency Use Authorization in the UK 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 UK," said Albert Bourla, Pfizer chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement Wednesday.

CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, said in the same statement that "we believe that the roll-out of the vaccination program in the UK will reduce the number of people in the high-risk population being hospitalized. Our aim is to bring a safe and effective vaccine upon approval to the people who need it."

While the vaccine has to be stored at -70 degrees Celsius, the companies say it can be kept in a refrigerator for up to five days at 2-8C.

The first doses are expected to arrive in the UK in the coming days, with complete delivery fulfillment expected in 2021, Pfizer said.