(Newswire.net — December 2, 2020) —
The end of Covid 19 might actually be in sight.
The United Kingdom has approved the Pfizer vaccine, making them the first European country to officially welcome a means to combat the coronavirus pandemic. They have announced that the vaccine, which is made by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and their German partner BioNTech, will be available across the country starting next week.
An OK was given after a thorough screening process by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, known as a “rolling review”. These types of tests are meant to be used to asses medicine that is showing promising results in times of crisis, in order to green light its production in the shortest possible time.
Results after Phase 3 trials of the vaccine showed a 95% effective rate of infection prevention, as well as marking it as being safe for use.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, said that they have managed to secure 40 million doses and announced vaccination to prioritized groups starting next week. The vaccine is administered in two doses, so this is enough to treat 20 million people, and another 10 million doses are soon to follow. “From the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you for helping to get this virus under control,” Hancock tweeted yesterday.
BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said “We believe it is really the start of the end of the pandemic” in a recent interview to CNN.
The European Medicines Agency will release its statement regarding the vaccine on December 29.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson encouraged people to accept the vaccine and even suggested he could take a dose live on TV in an effort to convince others to join the first attempts at herd immunity. He also warned people to not “get their hopes up,” regarding fast, nationwide coverage and rollout of the vaccine – stressing it would still be a long time until it is widely available.