WHO hails ‘important moment’ for fight against coronavirus

The World Health Organization (WHO) has told the BBC that the UK’s plans for mass vaccination with the Pfizer/BioNtech jab mark an “important moment” in efforts to tackle coronavirus.

“Obviously we need to do much more and we need to look at all the different vaccines and how we’re going to get them out there, but I think it’s an important day,” said the WHO’s Dr Margaret Harris, speaking with Newshour, on the BBC World Service.

With many vaccines still in development, Dr Harris said the WHO would provide a regulatory system for countries who needed it to test any potential jabs before deciding to use them.

And in a statement to Reuters, the WHO said it was in discussions with the UK’s MHRA regulator “on the possibility of accessing some of the information from their assessment, which could expedite WHO’s emergency listing”.