WHO chief reiterates 'act together' as UK approves Pfizer-BioNtech’s COVID-19 vaccine

The World Health Organisation chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on December 2 welcomed the encouraging news from the United Kingdom as the country approves Pfizer-BioNtech’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate for widespread use. British regulator MHRA has announced that the mRNA-based vaccine that showed 95% efficacy, is safe for mass roll out with immunisations in the country starting "early next week" among the high priority groups. Britain has reportedly already placed an order of 40 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine to provide the double-dose immunisation to at least 20 million people. 

While taking to Twitter, Tedros reiterated to “act together” and said, “The UK is the first country to authorize the Pfizer/BionTech #COVID19 vaccine for emergency use and expects to start rolling it out as soon as next week #ACTogther. 

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As per reports, nearly 10 million doses of the vaccine candidate, BNT162b2 will be available for the UK shortly. The COVID-19 vaccine now approved by the UK is also one of the fastest ever vaccine to become a reality from just a concept as it took only 10 months for a process that could normally take up to a decade. Even though vaccination will begin soon in Britain, people would still be asked to remain cautious and follow the government proposed COVID-19 guidelines.

"The Government has today accepted the recommendation from the Independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for use. This follows months of rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA who have concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness," UK government said in a statement.

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All About Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid Vaccine

Pfizer's vaccine has been demonstrated to be 95% effective against Covid 28 days after the first dose (i.e. 7 days after the second dose)

i.e. Dose 1 + 21 days + Dose 2 + 7 days -> 95% efficacy

The results were published after the conclusion of the phase 3 study which enrolled 43,661 participants. It found 170 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 162 observed in the placebo group (those who didn't get the vaccine) versus 8 in the vaccine group.

Pfizer's storage plan is that it has 'developed specially designed, temperature-controlled thermal shippers, utilizing dry ice to maintain temperature conditions of -70°C±10°C. They can be used be as temporary storage units for 15 days by refilling with dry ice.' Essentially, however, the vaccine in its current form needs to be stored at -70°C.

READ: UK Approves Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID Vaccine For Mass Rollout, Inoculation Begins Next Week

READ: BioNtech-Pfizer File 'formal Application' Seeking EU Approval For Its COVID-19 Vaccine