Covid news: Dr Fauci expresses ‘great faith’ in UK regulators as he walks back claim vaccine approval was rushed
Dr Anthony Fauci has walked back his claim that the UK’s approval of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine was rushed.
The top US infectious disease expert, who had claimed UK regulators had not scrutinised the trial data for the vaccine as carefully as the US Food and Drug Administration, went on the express “great faith” in UK regulators.
Meanwhile, the education secretary Gavin Williamson has been criticised for attempting to use “vaccine nationalism” over the UK’s approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus jab on Wednesday.
Mr Williamson claimed the UK was getting a Covid-19 vaccine first because it was a “much better country” than France, Belgium and the US.
It comes after the the UK’s deputy chief medical officer announced on Thursday that the first doses of the newly-approved coronavirus vaccine were set to arrive in Britain within “hours”. The UK became the first country in the world to give the go-ahead to the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech yesterday, paving the way for vaccinations to start next week.
