London: United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday hailed the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for formally authorising the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine and said that the vaccine will be available across the UK from next week.
Taking to Twitter, Johnson said, "It's fantastic that @MHRAgovuk has formally authorised the @Pfizer/@BioNTech_Group vaccine for Covid-19. The vaccine will begin to be made available across the UK from next week."
Read:|No corners cut on vaccine approval: UK MHRA
He further said, "It's the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again."
Earlier today, the UK became the first country in the world to authorise the use of Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency purposes, thus, paving way for the delivery of the vaccines from next week.
"Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced today that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the U.K. has granted a temporary authorization for emergency use for their COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2), against COVID-19. This constitutes the first Emergency Use Authorization following a worldwide Phase 3 trial of a vaccine to help fight the pandemic," the official statement from Pfizer read.
Read:|UK authorises Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine
It further informed, "Now that the vaccine is authorized in the U.K., the companies will take immediate action to begin the delivery of vaccine doses. The first doses are expected to arrive in the U.K. in the coming days, with complete delivery fulfilment expected in 2021."
The statement said Pfizer and BioNTech are anticipating further regulatory decisions across the globe in the coming days and weeks and are ready to deliver vaccine doses following potential regulatory authorizations or approvals.
ANI