Covid 19 coronavirus: Pfizer vaccine approved for use in the UK

The Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for use in the UK, and officials say it will be available “starting next week.”

The move, an important step in ending the pandemic, makes the UK one of the first countries to start vaccinating its population as it tries to curb the deadly virus outbreak in Europe.

Other countries are not far behind: The United States and the European Union are also investigating Pfizer’s injection alongside a similar vaccine made by competitor Moderna Inc.

A spokesperson for the UK Department of Health and Welfare said: “The Government has today accepted the recommendation of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve the use of the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. This It comes after months of rigorous clinical trials and extensive data analysis by MHRA experts who have concluded that the vaccine has met their strict standards for safety, quality and efficacy.

“The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) will also release its latest advice shortly for priority groups to receive the vaccine, including nursing home residents, health and care personnel, the elderly and the clinically extremely vulnerable.

“The vaccine will be available throughout the UK from next week.”

The schedule for a Covid-19 vaccination in New Zealand looked like a March date, but not everyone would receive a vaccine at the same time, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last week.

Details of the calendar would take place at the end of the month.

“At this point, our expectation that we’ve been running to is closer to the March date,” Ardern said.

But he cautioned that not everyone would receive the vaccine at the same time and that the delivery schedule was far from set.

Ardern said he had spoken with German and French leaders about the different dates they expect vaccines to arrive in their countries.

“There has been speculation around December about some countries that will get vaccines, some claim it will be later in January, so right now, while they’re still in clinical trials, there’s still some ambiguity.”

So far two vaccines have been announced for New Zealand: Pfizer and Janssen.

Pzifer’s product could be in the country in March and is a two-dose vaccine that would cover 750,000 people.

Janssen requires just one injection, but it won’t arrive until September 2021, with two million initial doses and more if needed.

Ardern has said the vaccine will be provided free of charge.

New Zealand is poised to receive the vaccine as one of the few countries with a pre-purchase agreement.

‘Historic moment’

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called the UK’s decision “a historic moment.”

“We are focusing on moving forward with the same level of urgency to safely deliver a high-quality vaccine around the world,” Bourla said in a statement.

While the UK has ordered enough Pfizer vaccines for 20 million people, it is unclear how many will arrive before the end of the year and, in addition to distribution challenges, it must be stored in extremely cold temperatures.

Two doses three weeks apart are required for protection. First in line, the UK government says, are frontline healthcare workers and nursing home residents, followed by older adults.

British regulators are also considering another opportunity made by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that “we must first go through a harsh winter” of restrictions to try to curb the virus until there is enough vaccine for everyone.

Each country has different rules for determining when an experimental vaccine is safe and effective enough for use.

Intense political pressure to be the first to launch a rigorously scientifically proven shot colored the race in the United States and Britain, even as researchers vowed not to take shortcuts. On the contrary, China and Russia have offered different vaccines to their citizens before the last stage tests.

Injections by US-based Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech were tested in tens of thousands of people. And while that study is not complete, early results suggest that the vaccine is 95% effective in preventing mild to severe Covid-19 disease.

The companies told regulators that of the first 170 infections detected in study volunteers, only eight were among people who had received the real vaccine and the rest had received a fake injection.

“This is extraordinarily strong protection,” Dr. Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, recently told The Associated Press.

The companies also did not report serious side effects, although vaccine recipients may experience temporary pain and flu-like reactions immediately after the injections.

But experts warn that a vaccine approved for emergency use is still experimental and the final test must be completed.

Whether the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines protect against people who spread coronavirus without showing symptoms remains to be determined.

Another question is how long the protection lasts.

The vaccine has also been tested in only a small number of children, none younger than 12 years old, and there is no information on its effects in pregnant women.

– with Daily Telegraph and AP