Promise of COVID vaccines is
'phenomenal', WHO says
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[December 03, 2020]
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The promise of COVID-19
vaccines is "phenomenal" and "potentially game-changing", Hans Kluge,
the World Health Organization's regional director for Europe, told a
briefing on Thursday. |
![](../images/120320PIX/news_a51.jpg)
Vials with a sticker reading, "COVID-19 / Coronavirus vaccine /
Injection only" and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed
Pfizer logo in this illustration taken October 31, 2020. REUTERS/Dado
Ruvic |
Speaking from Copenhagen, he said supplies were expected to be
very limited in the early stages and countries must decide who
gets priority, though the WHO said there is "growing consensus"
that first recipients should be older people, medical workers
and people with co-morbidities.
Britain approved Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday,
jumping ahead of the rest of the world in the race to begin the
most crucial mass inoculation programme in history.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson touted the green light from
Britain's medicine authority as a global win though he
recognised the logistical challenges of vaccinating an entire
country of 67 million.
U.S. and EU regulators are sifting through the same Pfizer
vaccine trial data, but have yet to give their approval.
The WHO said on Wednesday it had received data from Pfizer and
BioNTech on the vaccine and was reviewing it for "possible
listing for emergency use", a benchmark for countries to
authorise national use.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and John Miller; Writing by Nick
Macfie; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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