Which countries have approved the Pfizer vaccine?
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The UK’s Covid vaccination programme has emerged as the first in the western world, with “thousands” of people having received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine this week. Speedy procurement and approval allowed minsters to roll out the jab before any other European country, paving the way for the UK to exit pandemic restrictions first. Other countries have not yet taken the same steps, seemingly taking a more careful approach to approving their vaccines.
Which countries have approved the Pfizer vaccine?
Three countries, including the UK, have approved the vaccine so far.
Bahrain became the second to do so last week when the country on the Persian Gulf used emergency legislation to fast track its vaccine programme.
Much like the UK, Bahraini officials have pledged to vaccinate the most vulnerable first but did not disclose how many doses they have ordered.
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The country has also not confirmed when it would commence its inoculation schedule.
Canada followed them as the third country yesterday, Health Canada announced.
The organisation has granted the Pfizer vaccine interim authorisation, with vaccination to start next week.
They announced a stock of 249,000 doses would arrive this week, and had targets to get four million by March 2021.
Health officials also announced they would keep a close eye on the vaccine as the first few people get it, adding they would “take action” if they identify any potential concerns.
Health Canada said in a statement: “Canadians can feel confident that the review process was rigorous and that we have strong monitoring systems in place.
“Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada will closely monitor the safety of the vaccine once it is on the market and will not hesitate to take action if any safety concerns are identified.”
When other countries could follow remains unclear, but those in the EU could potentially take advantage of the same legislation the UK did.
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Ministers used EU legislation which allows hasty vaccine approval to roll it out nationally.
The UK is the only one to have taken advantage of this, as other nations in the bloc have taken a more careful attitude.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) currently states it will not know how long it will take to approve a vaccine on its website.
Their best-case scenario currently stipulates potential approval “towards the end of 2020”, depending on the data they receive.
They added regulators would carry out “a scientific evaluation of the vaccine’s safety, efficacy and quality” and analyse scientific evidence.
Should the vaccine pass all of these tests, approval would soon follow before granting access for the entire EU.
The EMA states: “If the scientific evidence supports a positive benefit-risk assessment for any of the vaccines, the European Commission will grant a marketing authorisation valid across the EU in the shortest possible timelines.
“For evaluation of other vaccines currently at earlier development stages, this would likely take place throughout 2021 and beyond.”
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