The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine.
The Department of Health said it will be rolled out from next week after being approved for use by the UK’s health regulation authority.
A spokesman said: ‘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.
‘The vaccine will be made available across the UK from next week.’
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The UK had previously secured orders for 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab – enough to vaccine 20 million people with two does each.
The first people to be vaccinated will be high priority groups including care home staff and residents.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock declared ‘help is on its way’ as he confirmed the good news in a tweet.
He said the health service is ready to start vaccinating from early next week, adding: ‘The UK is the first country in the world to have a clinically approved vaccine for supply.’
Pfizer say the jab is 95% effective and has passed its safety checks.
Chairman and chief executive officer Dr Albert Bourla said previously: ‘We have known since the beginning of this journey that patients are waiting, and we stand ready to ship Covid-19 vaccine doses as soon as potential authorisations will allow us.’
The vaccine is one of a number of jabs that had been racing for official approval.
The UK government have agreed a deal to get 100 million doses of the Oxford and Astrazeneca jab, which is said to be up to 90% effective – though questions have been raised about that figure.
It also plans to bring in seven million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which – like the Pfizer jab but unlike Oxford’s version – needs to be stored at very low temperatures. Moderna says its product is ’95% effective’
Russia also claims its Sputnik vaccine has the same level of effectiveness, but the UK is likely to reject that jab, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Each vaccine will become available to the public at different times based on authorisation and when the UK receives its doses.
However, the Government has previously ruled out ‘vaccine passports’.
The European Medicines Agency has said it will convene a meeting on December 29 to decide if there is enough data about the safety and efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech for it to be approved.
The agency also said Tuesday it could decide as early as January 12 whether to approve an experimental Covid-19 vaccine developed by Moderna.
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