COVID-19 Vaccine Approved For Use In UK With Vaccinations Starting Next Week

2 December 2020, 07:22 | Updated: 2 December 2020, 07:31

The government has approved the first vaccine for COVID-19 and it will be available from next week.

The UK government has approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for use.

It's the first coronavirus vaccine to be authorised and vaccinations are set to start as early as next week.

The vaccine was announced last month and was shown to have an efficacy of 95%.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson 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."

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."

The Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) will shortly publish its final advice for the priority groups to receive the vaccine, including care home residents, health and care staff, the elderly and the clinically extremely vulnerable."

The vaccine will be made available across the UK from next week. The NHS has decades of experience in delivering large scale vaccination programmes and will begin putting their extensive preparations into action to provide care and support to all those eligible for vaccination."

To aid the success of the vaccination programme it is vital everyone continues to play their part and abide by the necessary restrictions in their area so we can further suppress the virus and allow the NHS to do its work without being overwhelmed."

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.