— and that it also offered significant protection
for older people, among those most at risk of
dying from the disease. But the vaccine remains
experimental while final testing is done.
“Help is on its way,” British Health Secretary Matt
Hancock told the BBC, adding that the situation
would start to improve in the spring.
“We now have a vaccine. We’re the first country
in the world to have one formally clinically
authorized but, between now and then, we’ve
got to hold on, we’ve got to hold our resolve,”
he said.
Other countries aren’t far behind: Regulators
in the United States and the European Union
also are vetting the Pfizer shot along with a
similar vaccine made by competitor Moderna
Inc. British regulators also are considering
another shot made by AstraZeneca and
Oxford University.
Hancock said Britain expects to begin receiving
the first shipment of 800,000 doses “within days,”
and people will begin receiving shots as soon as
the National Health Service gets the vaccine.
Doses everywhere are scarce, and initial supplies
will be rationed until more is manufactured in
the first several months of next year.
A government committee will release details
of vaccination priorities later Wednesday, but
Hancock said nursing home residents, people
over 80, and healthcare workers and other care
workers will be the first to receive the shot.
Pfizer said it would immediately begin shipping
limited supplies to the U.K. — and has been
gearing up for even wider distribution if
given a similar nod by the U.S. Food and Drug