- General
- December 2, 2020
- 3 minutes read
UK Approves Pfizer Covid Vaccine
The Covid-19 vaccine made by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer in partnership with the German biotech firm BioNTech has been approved for…
The Covid-19 vaccine made by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer in partnership with the German biotech firm BioNTech has been approved for us by the UK’s health regulators, Pfizer has announced, making its vaccine which was reported to have a 95% efficacy rate during trials the first-ever Covid-19 vaccine to be approved for use worldwide.
The UK government has granted Pfizer a temporary authorization for emergency use of its vaccine following the conclusion of the initial phase of the pharmaceutical company’s trials, whereas Pfizer has signed a deal to distribute 40 million doses to the UK this year and the next.
Pfizer says it’ll start distributing its vaccines in the UK in ‘the coming days’ and now awaits approval decisions from other global regulatory agencies, particularly the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Pfizer is among several biotech and pharmaceutical companies who are working on Covid-19 vaccines, two other notable ones being Moderna and AstraZeneca. Moderna has reported a 94.5% efficacy rate from its Phase 3 trial while AstraZeneca has reported an average efficacy rate of 70%.
Just like Pfizer, Moderna has sought approval for its vaccine from the UK and US health agencies but hasn’t yet gotten feedback. Notably, the UK government has already booked for 7 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine, hinting at likely approval in soon time.
