KATHMANDU – The UK has approved the use of a coronavirus vaccine developed by drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech.
With the decision of the Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to give emergency approval to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, the UK has become the first Western country to allow mass inoculations against Covid-19 that has claimed over a million lives worldwide.
The decision will also allow Britain to become one of the first countries to begin vaccinating its population.
Issuing a statement, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care said that the vaccine will be made available across the UK from next week.
The drug maker Pfizer has said that trials have shown that its coronavirus vaccine was 95 percent effective and had no serious side effects.
According to BBC News, the UK has already ordered 40m doses – enough to vaccinate 20m people, according to BBC News.
“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,” read the statement of the department.
“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,” it added.
