UK to roll out Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from next week

Britain has become the first ­country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.

‘Help is on its way’: Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Picture: Getty Images

Britain has become the first ­country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.

Its Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has ruled that the jab, which offers up to 95_per cent protection against COVID-19, is safe for rollout.

Medical workers, the most vulnerable and the elderly will begin getting the vaccine from next week. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said the government had accepted on Wednesday the recommendation of the MHRA to approve the Pfizer 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,” he said. “The vaccine­ will be made available across the UK from next week.”

Britain has ordered 40 million doses, enough to vaccinate 20 mil­lion people with two shots each. Ten million doses should be available soon, with the first doses arriving in Britain in days.

Australia has a deal with Pfizer to purchase 10 million doses of its mRNA vaccine, with the Therapeutic Goods Administration here working with overseas regulators to fast-track its approval.

The TGA has said it expects to grant provisional approval to the Pfizer vaccine by late next month, and Health Minister Greg Hunt said he expected the first Austral­ians to begin receiving it in March.

The Pfizer vaccine is the fastest to go from concept to reality, taking­ only 10 months to follow the same developmental steps that normally span a decade.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock tweeted: “Help is on its way. The MHRA has formally authorised the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19. The NHS stands ready to start vaccinating early next week. “The UK is the first country … to have a clinic­ally approved­ vaccine for supply.”

Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chairman of Britain’s Commission on Human Medicine Expert Working Group, said a wide range of experts had assessed the vaccine trial’s “unprecedented raw data’’. He revealed further informatio­n about the Pfizer Bio­N­Tech vaccine, including that there had been no serious adverse reactions to the vaccine among more than 20,000 trial volunteers.

He said the data showed the vaccine was 95 per cent effective, and it was effective in all the groups that were given the vaccine — regardless of age, sex, race, or country of birth.

Professor Pirmohamed said people “will be immune­ seven days after the ­second dose” of the vaccine, which requires two doses taken 21 days apart. Partial immunity developed after day 12 of the first dose. The side effects were “mild and short, lasting for a day or two’’, akin to any other vaccine.

Other vaccines that have published high efficacy results, such as Moderna, with mRNA technol­ogy similar to Pfizer and Oxford AstraZeneca, are expected to be approved for use in Britain within weeks, adding to the stockpile.

Pfizer BioNTech projected it could make 50 million doses this year and 1.3 billion next year. As well as deals with Britain and Australia, the company has agreed to supply 300 million doses to the EU, 600 million to the US, 120 million to Japan, 20 million to Canada and 1.5 million to New Zealand.

Britain’s approval comes just days after a law was passed allowing the MHRA to bypass the EU’s regulator, despite Britain still being in a Brexit transition period.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma hailed the news as “the day the UK led humanity’s charge against this disease’’.

“The UK was the first country to sign a deal with Pfizer/BioNTech — now we will be the first to deploy their vaccine,” he said.

The breakthrough came after Prime Minister Boris Johnson was dealt a major embarrassment on Tuesday night as his tiered system to deal with COVID-19 passed the House of Commons by 291 votes to 78 — but he suffered a bruising backlash from about 60 Tory backbenchers. And 16 Labour MPs rebelled against party leader Keir Starmer’s orders to abstain.

Mr Johnson stood at the entry of the lobby, pleading with MPs to vote for his bill. But many backbenchers were not swayed by a raft of last-minute promises. “People are fed up, but what is the alternative? I don’t have an answer­ to that and neither does anyone else,” the Prime Minister said.

The bill means 99 per cent of England will now be in the two highest tiers, which bans any mixing­ of households indoors. In those areas on the highest, third tier, predominantly in the north of England and Kent, all social contact, indoors or out, is prohibited.

We're preparing now so we are ready to roll out vaccines as soon as they have gone through all the safety and regulatory checks. pic.twitter.com/4Kwy9qKEwL

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 30, 2020

Additional reporting: Natasha Robinson