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GENEVA, Switzerland – The World Health Organization on Thursday granted emergency validation to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, paving the way for countries around the world to quickly approve its import and distribution.
Britain launched its inoculation campaign with the American-German vaccine on December 8, and the United States, Canada and EU countries followed suit.
The WHO said the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine was the first to receive its “emergency validation” since the novel coronavirus first broke out in China a year ago.
“This is a very positive step to ensure global access to COVID-19 vaccines,” said Mariangela Simao, one of the main WHO officials in charge of ensuring access to medicines.
“But I want to emphasize the need for an even greater global effort to achieve a sufficient vaccine supply to meet the needs of priority populations everywhere,” he said in a statement.
The WHO said its emergency use list opens the way for regulators in different countries to approve the importation and distribution of the vaccine.
He said it also allows UNICEF, which plays a key logistical role in the distribution of anti-Covid vaccines, and the Pan American Health Organization, to procure the vaccine for countries that need it.
The WHO convened its own experts and those from around the world to review the data on the “safety, efficacy and quality” of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, weighing the benefits against the risks.
“The review found that the vaccine met essential criteria for safety and efficacy established by the WHO, and that the benefits of using the vaccine to address COVID-19 outweigh the potential risks,” he said.
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