Frontline workers in the UK are likely to receive Pfizer and BioNTech SE's coronavirus vaccine by next week, reports suggested on Saturday.
The government is set to approve the vaccine for National Health Service (NHS) workers in Britain as early as December 7.
As the vaccine has seen a 95% effectiveness rate in the first trials, Pfizer's anti-Covid-19 jab has become a leading candidate for the national protection scheme. Britain has already ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine and will likely receive the first deliveries by early December.
On November 20, the UK government ordered its national medical regulator - the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), to observe the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccination.
Moreover, the MHRA is in the process of assessing if the vaccine currently being produced by Oxford University and AstraZeneca "meets rigorous safety standards".
Pfizer-BioNTech's 'genetic type' experimental Covid-19 began its phase 3 clinical trials in July this year. If UK regulators green-light emergency-use authorisation, it will kick-start the first such vaccine rollout regime anywhere on earth.
Earlier this week, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel costed the Covid-19 vaccine between $25 and $27.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson assigned junior business minister Nadhim Zahawi on Sunday to oversee the distribution of the coronavirus vaccines in the UK.
We have ordered a further 2 million doses of the Moderna vaccine.
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) November 29, 2020
We have 357 million vaccine doses from seven developers which will be ready to deploy once they have gone through all the safety checks and are approved by the regulators.https://t.co/1A0dyJ1UuV pic.twitter.com/qojCmWkS4n
With confirmed cases rising across the country, the outbreak has led to the deaths of 58,127 people. In response, the British government has reintroduced lockdown restrictions, set to be replaced with a three-tier system based on regional severity.
