'Brighter days ahead' Swann welcomes approval for Pfizer vaccine
Last updated 2nd Dec 2020
Northern Ireland's Health Minister today (Wednesday) described approval for the new Pfizer vaccine as "a hugely significant day".
Robin Swann was responding to news that the UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use.
The vaccine was given the green light by the health regulator MHRA and will become available from next week.
Mr Swann said: " The first Covid-19 vaccines could be administered in Northern Ireland next week."
Robin Swann said the approval of UK regulators for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine could see the scheduled December 14 roll out date brought forward by a few days.
Mr Swann said the region would receive 25,000 jabs as part of the initial batch arriving in the UK.
Healthcare workers are likely to receive the first jabs in Northern Ireland.
"We would hope to have a supply of vaccine next week, which could actually see that date come forward by a few days,'' Mr Swann added.
"We'll be working through the exact logistics of the dispatch of the vaccine from Belgium across to the UK and how we get that distributed through your system.''
The minister urged caution and stressed that compliance with Covid-19 regulations is still vital.
It's the beginning of the end, it's not the end,'' he said.
It will be weeks and it'll be well into next year before we're looking to that larger mass vaccination programme across the population of Northern Ireland.
"So, as I say, this is the beginning of them.
"We're not there yet.
"So we do ask the people in Northern Ireland to continue to maintain and follow the regulations that are there.''
A total of 800,000 doses are expected to arrive in the UK next week and a mass vaccination programme will begin then.
The UK has ordered 40 million doses, enough to vaccinate 20 million people.
A list of who’ll get it first will come out later.
It is expected that hospital staff and care home workers will be offered the vaccine first.
First Minister Arlene Foster said the vaccine approval was an early "Christmas present''.
"This does give us the road back to normality and I think everybody has been waiting for that,'' she said.
"I'm incredibly proud today that the United Kingdom has been able to do this and that we will all benefit from this vaccine coming.''
Mrs Foster said the rollout of the vaccine would be a "huge challenge''.
She said the Stormont Executive also has to plan for economic recovery.
"So we need to find a way out of this that brings recovery back to the United Kingdom and to Northern Ireland, of course, in particular, and that's what we'll be working on in the weeks to come as well as working on, of course, all of the logistical challenges on the rollout of the vaccine and mass testing,'' she added.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer. “As we anticipate further authorizations and approvals, we are focused on moving with the same level of urgency to safely supply a high-quality vaccine around the world. With thousands of people becoming infected, every day matters in the collective race to end this devastating pandemic.”
And Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech added: “The Emergency Use Authorization in the U.K. will mark the first time citizens outside of the trials will have the opportunity to be immunized against COVID-19,.
“We believe that the roll-out of the vaccination program in the U.K. will reduce the number of people in the high-risk population being hospitalized. Our aim is to bring a safe and effective vaccine upon approval to the people who need it."