UK authorises Pfizer, BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines, delivery from next week

Washington [US], December 2 : The United Kingdom on Wednesday became the first country in the world to authorise use of Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency purpose, thus, paving way for the delivery of the vaccines from next week.
"Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced today that the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the U.K. has granted a temporary authorization for emergency use for their COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2), against COVID-19. This constitutes the first Emergency Use Authorization following a worldwide Phase 3 trial of a vaccine to help fight the pandemic," the official statement from Pfizer read.
It further informed, "Now that the vaccine is authorized in the U.K., the companies will take immediate action to begin the delivery of vaccine doses. The first doses are expected to arrive in the U.K. in the coming days, with complete delivery fulfilment expected in 2021."
The statement said Pfizer and BioNTech are anticipating further regulatory decisions across the globe in the coming days and weeks and are ready to deliver vaccine doses following potential regulatory authorizations or approvals.
"The distribution of the vaccine in the U.K. will be prioritized according to the populations identified in guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)," Pfizer asserted.
Meanwhile, both the companies have filed a request for Emergency Use Authorization with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They have submitted the final Conditional Marketing Authorization Application (CA) following rolling submissions with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and several other regulatory agencies around the world, the statement added.
According to the latest data by the Johns Hopkins University, globally as many as 63,894,184 people have tested COVID-19 positive and 1,480,709 deaths have been reported so far.