The first country to approve the emergency use of the Covid-19 vaccine developed jointly by the United States based pharma giant Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech is the United Kingdom which granted the approval on Wednesday.
According to a statement from the UK government, it will make the vaccine available for Britons starting next week. Following this emergency authorization of this vaccine by the UK, which has now cleared the way for its deployment, is a major milestone in the global efforts to bring an end to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The government has today accepted the recommendation from the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for use. This 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," the UK government said in a statement.
“The vaccine will be made available across the UK from next week. The NHS has decades of experience in delivering large scale vaccination programmes and will begin putting their extensive preparations into action to provide care and support to all those eligible for vaccination," the statement added.
According to the chief executive of the US pharma group's, a "historic moment" in the battle against the pandemic is marked by the approval of the BioNTech-Pfizer's vaccine against Covid-19. "Today's Emergency Use Authorisation in the UK marks a historic moment in the fight against Covid-19," said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
In November, the two companies had announced that the vaccine which has been developed using a novel technology called messenger RNA, exhibited 95 per cent efficacy or effectiveness against the Covid-19 virus infections after analysis of the data from the final round of clinical trials conducted by the companies.
Authorities in the UK had previously indicated that it would take a swift decision of approval of Covid-19 vaccines as part of its strategy to provide protection to its population and the doctors across the country were asked to be ready for a possible rollout of a vaccine soon.
The UK government had already struck a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for supply of 20 million people of the country while the vaccine was in its development stage. Similar agreements to supply hundreds of millions of shots of the vaccine to different countries in Europe as well as the United States, Japan and other countries have also been struck by the companies.
An application for regulatory clearance for their vaccine for use in the European Union was filed regulatory clearance for their vaccine in the European Union by Pfizer and BioNTech. According to analysts and sources, that has put the companies in course for a likely approval of its vaccine in the region before the end of the current year.
In response to an emergency use of the vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech, experts from the US regulators - the Food and Drug Administration, are slated to meet on December 10 to review the application for approval. It is being expected that an emergency use approval for the vaccine could be granted on the same day or a day later on December 11.
(Source:www.livemint.com)
According to a statement from the UK government, it will make the vaccine available for Britons starting next week. Following this emergency authorization of this vaccine by the UK, which has now cleared the way for its deployment, is a major milestone in the global efforts to bring an end to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The government has today accepted the recommendation from the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for use. This 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," the UK government said in a statement.
“The vaccine will be made available across the UK from next week. The NHS has decades of experience in delivering large scale vaccination programmes and will begin putting their extensive preparations into action to provide care and support to all those eligible for vaccination," the statement added.
According to the chief executive of the US pharma group's, a "historic moment" in the battle against the pandemic is marked by the approval of the BioNTech-Pfizer's vaccine against Covid-19. "Today's Emergency Use Authorisation in the UK marks a historic moment in the fight against Covid-19," said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
In November, the two companies had announced that the vaccine which has been developed using a novel technology called messenger RNA, exhibited 95 per cent efficacy or effectiveness against the Covid-19 virus infections after analysis of the data from the final round of clinical trials conducted by the companies.
Authorities in the UK had previously indicated that it would take a swift decision of approval of Covid-19 vaccines as part of its strategy to provide protection to its population and the doctors across the country were asked to be ready for a possible rollout of a vaccine soon.
The UK government had already struck a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for supply of 20 million people of the country while the vaccine was in its development stage. Similar agreements to supply hundreds of millions of shots of the vaccine to different countries in Europe as well as the United States, Japan and other countries have also been struck by the companies.
An application for regulatory clearance for their vaccine for use in the European Union was filed regulatory clearance for their vaccine in the European Union by Pfizer and BioNTech. According to analysts and sources, that has put the companies in course for a likely approval of its vaccine in the region before the end of the current year.
In response to an emergency use of the vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech, experts from the US regulators - the Food and Drug Administration, are slated to meet on December 10 to review the application for approval. It is being expected that an emergency use approval for the vaccine could be granted on the same day or a day later on December 11.
(Source:www.livemint.com)