United Kingdom to Roll Out Pfizer Vaccine Next Week

The Pfizer vaccine, which shows 95% efficacy but must be stored at -94° F, has been approved for use in the United Kingdom. The first 800,000 shots will be distributed across the pond next week, with Britons residing in assisted living facilities, those aged 80 and older, and frontline healthcare personnel receiving the first crack at the vaccination. Public health experts suspect that this move will encourage the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make a similar decision. On December 10, a panel of outside experts compiled by the FDA will review the latest safety data on the vaccine, with a safety meeting for the other option, the Moderna vaccine, scheduled for December 17. It remains unclear whether the decision to move ahead with approving the Pfizer vaccine in the US will come immediately after the safety review meeting or, rather, will come sometime in the ensuing weeks.

Pfizer’s vaccine is based on synthetic messenger RNA (mRNA), a new technology that helps the body’s own immune system identify and then combat the novel coronavirus by copying its surface. Read more here.