UK plans for deployment of Covid-19 vaccine nationally

Bloomberg

The UK is gearing up to deploy its first Covid-19 vaccine with plans to provide the shot at more than 1,000 centres across the country over the coming weeks with the first jab expected to be given on Tuesday.
The vaccine, created by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, has arrived at secure locations in the UK from Belgium, the Department of Health and Social Care said on Sunday. Following quality checks to ensure the jabs have been kept at the correct temperature, the shots will be made available to 50 hospital hubs around the country, before being distributed to doctor-run vaccination centres that will administer the jabs.
The UK will become the first western country to deploy a Covid-19 vaccine after regulators approved the Pfizer-BioNTech shot. The government has bought 40 million doses from the companies, enough to inoculate 20 million people on the two-dose regimen. The shots will be given in order of priority, with the first vaccines going to those in care homes, including workers, and people over 80 years old.
Vaccines were expected to arrive at hospitals on Monday with the first vaccinations starting from Tuesday, according to a separate release from NHS England, with patients aged 80 and over who are already in hospital or attending appointments there among the first to receive the jab, the NHS said. Any appointments not used for the first priority groups will be given to healthcare workers at high-risk of serious illness from Covid-19.
“This coming week will be an historic moment as we begin vaccination against Covid-19,” Matt Hancock, the UK’s health secretary, said. “We are doing everything we can to make sure we can overcome significant challenges to vaccinate care home residents.”
One of the major challenges will be to ensure the vaccine is kept at the right temperature.

Pfizer seeks emergency-use approval in India
Bloomberg

Pfizer India has applied to India’s drug regulator for emergency-use authorisation for its Covid-19 vaccine, after the company’s parent received clearance for the treatment from Britain and Bahrain, Press Trust of India reported.
The company sought permission to import the vaccine for sale and distribution in India without the requirement for clinical trials on local people, in accordance with the special provisions under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019, the news agency said, citing an unidentified official.