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Britain Approves Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine, Raising Hopes of Return to
Normality

Henry Ridgwell

   LONDON - Britain says it plans to start injecting people with the
   Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as early as Monday after becoming the first
   country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine following large-scale clinical
   trials.

   The British government approved the use of the coronavirus vaccine on
   Wednesday, after the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory
   Agency (MHRA) announced it had completed its safety review.

   The decision marks a significant milestone in the battle against the
   pandemic, although challenges remain for poorer health systems in
   rolling out the vaccine.

   "The MHRA's recommendation has been reached following an extremely
   thorough and scientifically rigorous review of all the evidence of
   safety, of effectiveness and of quality of the Pfizer BioNTech
   vaccine," said Dr. June Raine, head of the MHRA, in a virtual press
   conference Tuesday.

   "The data showed that this vaccine is 95% effective. It is effective in
   all the groups that were given the vaccine within the trial,
   irrespective of age, sex, race or country that they lived in."

   Raine explained that the approval was completed so quickly because
   regulators had implemented a process known as a "rolling review."

   "A rolling review can be used to complete the assessment of a promising
   medicine or a vaccine in a situation where time is of the essence in
   the shortest time possible. But -- and this is a very important point
   indeed -- that doesn't mean that any corners have been cut. None at
   all," Raine said.

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