The United Kingdom has just given its authorization for the use of the vaccine against Covid-19 developed by the German BioNTech and the American giant Pfizer. The vaccine will be available throughout Britain from next week.
UK government approves use of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine
The British government approved, this Wednesday, December 2, 2020, the use of the vaccine against Covid-19 developed by Pfizer / BioNTech as indicated by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health: ” the government today accepted the recommendation of the Independent Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve the use of Pfizer / BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine “.
As a reminder, this is a new type of vaccine called an mRNA vaccine, the technique of which consists in using a fragment of the genetic code of the virus to allow the body to produce antibodies and therefore to fight against the virus. The vaccine should be given as two injections, 21 days apart.
The results showed the vaccine to be 95% effective
According to the spokesperson for the British Ministry of Health, this authorization follows “ months of rigorous clinical trials and in-depth data analysis by MHRA experts who concluded that the vaccine met its strict standards for safety, quality and efficacy “. Indeed, the results of clinical trials of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine have shown an efficacy of 95%.
On Twitter, Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health welcomed the news and said: “ UK first country in the world to have clinically approved vaccine “. As for Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, he described this first worldwide authorization as being a ” historic moment in the fight against Covid-19 “.
The vaccine will be available next week for priority people
While the UK had ordered 40 million doses, deliveries can start as early as next week as Matt Hancock said, ” NHS ready to start vaccination early next week “.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization is scheduled to release its final advice for priority groups to receive the vaccine soon. We already know that residents of care centers, health and care staff, the elderly and clinically extremely vulnerable people will be the first to be able to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
