Stay Positive

In recent news, The United Kingdom has become the first Western nation to approve the Covid-19 vaccine. This being a landmark moment in this ongoing pandemic. This approval is paving the way for the first doses to be handed out across the country starting next week. Senior Allison Brown stated, “It is so good to finally see change happening.”

You may be thinking, why is the approval moving so fast? The UK regulators granted the emergency authorization of this vaccine made by US pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. Senior, Lizzie Kennedy stated that, “I hope the US will move the approval of this vaccination as fast as The UK did.”

The final analysis of the Phase 3 trial of Pfizer's vaccine shows that it is in fact 95% effective in preventing infections, even in older adults, and caused no serious health concerns. The UK has sped past both the United States and European Union in the race to approval of a coronavirus vaccine, for a nearly year long pandemic that has killed nearly 1.5 million people worldwide. Senior Luke Yandell stated that this is,  "a historic moment in the fight against Covid-19."

As of now, The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine- which is enough to vaccinate 20 million people of their population. Starting next week an initial 800,000 doses will be available to the UK by Pfizer at its facilities in Belgium. However the bulk of the rollout will begin to come out next year.