New Delhi, December 05:
Just after UK, Bahrain on Friday became the second country in the world to grant Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine. Issuing a statement, the Gulf Arab state said it had also approved Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine in November for use by frontline workers.
“The approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will add a further important layer to the Kingdom’s national COVID-19 response,” Dr Mariam Al Jalahma, CEO of Bahrain’s National Health Regulatory Authority said in a statement.
The development comes after the UK this week approved Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use.
In the world, the UK became the first country to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 after “rigorous” analysis by its independent regulator, paving the way for mass vaccinations from as early as next week among people at the highest risk of death from the deadly virus.
The British regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), says the jab, which claims to offer up to 95 per cent protection against Covid-19 illness, is safe for roll out.
The UK government said the approval follows a “rigorous” analysis of the data, conducted at a faster pace but without any compromise on standards.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the fantastic news and confirmed that the vaccine will begin to be made available from next week.
It’s the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again, Johnson, a COVID-19 survivor, said.
The UK government has formally accepted the recommendation from the MHRA, which means the two-dose vaccine can be injected into arms of high-risk categories within days. Around 10 million doses should be available soon, with the first 800,000 arriving in the UK in the coming days.
