- MHRA grants approval for distribution of the Pfizer vaccine
- Priority being given to higher-risk groups
Less than a day after we declared that the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was expected to pass judgement on the Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) vaccine within days, it has approved the jab for widespread use.
The development timetable is unprecedented from conception though to clinical application, raising concerns that a significant proportion of the UK population may think twice before accepting the vaccine. That’s another potential headache for government strategists, though dozens of hospitals are now on standby and vaccination centres in other public venues are already being put in place. The mRNA vaccine, which has been developed with Germany’s BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX), is given as two injections, 21 days apart, with the second dose acting as a booster.
The UK has already ordered enough doses to vaccinate 20m people, with the first batch due for arrival in the UK within days. Preference for immunisation will be given to people with increased vulnerability to Covid-19, so nursing home managers will breathe a sigh of relief.
With further good news recently announced in relation to Moderna’s (NASDAQ: MRNA) candidate and sizeable orders in place for the conventional vaccine in late-stage development by AstraZeneca (AZN) and Oxford University, the government will be hoping the country will be able to break free of the grip of the virus by early spring, though public acquiescence is certainly not guaranteed.
