UK to be first to phase out Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine

Photographer: Akos Stiller / Bloomberg

UK set to become first country to approve Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s Covid-19 vaccine, ahead of a long line of countries awaiting protection against the coronavirus.

Customs clearance is possible as early as early next week, according to a person familiar with the situation, who has asked not to be identified because the process is confidential.

The UK had long said it would act quickly on any promising vaccine candidate. Russia and China have cleared general-purpose vaccines, but they are unlikely to be adopted in the United States and Europe.

British doctors were put awaiting a possible deployment before Christmas. The government has invoked a special rule allowing Britain’s medicines regulator to bypass its European Union counterpart as the country braces for the end of the Brexit transition period at the end of this year. And UK drugs and Health care The Product Regulatory Agency has launched its own expedited review.

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Earlier this week, the MHRA said he had the data to assess whether the Pfizer vaccine meets the required standards and that he “would make a decision as soon as possible, without compromising the thoroughness of our review.” The shot was 95% effective in a clinical trial involving nearly 44,000 people, with no significant safety concerns to date.

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On Saturday, an MHRA spokesperson declined to comment. A representative from BioNTech did not immediately comment. Pfizer said in a statement that it is not speculating on how long the review process will take or how it will end.

Minister of vaccines

The first injections could take place from December 7, the Financial Times reported earlier.

The news that the UK may approve a vaccine comes as Nadhim Zahawi, a young minister in the Department of Business, has been appointed minister responsible for overseeing the deployment of Covid-19 vaccines.

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The UK has ordered enough doses of the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to immunize 20 million people, although that volume will almost certainly not be available right away. The companies have also made deals to deliver hundreds of millions of snapshots to Europe, the United States, Japan and elsewhere.

The Pfizer-BioNTech shot has run to the head of the line after delays in trials of a vaccine from AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, which has also shown promising signs in the preliminary results of large studies. Another, from Moderna Inc., has also been shown to be effective in advanced stage trials.

According to the British Press Association on Saturday evening, the government obtained an additional 2 million doses of Moderna vaccine, bringing its total to 7 million.

– With the help of Suzi Ring and Tim Loh

(Add Moderna dose report in last paragraph)