UK PM Johnson urges people to take COVID-19 vaccine, but won't make it mandatory

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday said that he would like to see as many people as possible to take the newly-approved vaccine but at the same time also added the vaccines won't be mandatory. After the announcement that Pfizer's vaccine has been given emergency use authorisation, Johnson at a press conference urged people to take the vaccine. Johnson, however, added that his government would not make the vaccines mandatory, saying it is not part of "our culture". 

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Johnson also asked people not to get their "hopes up" regarding the speed at which the government would deploy the vaccine among the masses, indicating it will go to the frontline workers first. Johnson's government has acquired 8,00,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which the American giant has developed in partnership with BioNTech. The vaccine doses will likely be given to health care workers across the country as a measure to immunise those who are battling the disease at the frontlines. 

Read: Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Gets Approval In UK: Here's Everything You Need To Know

Pfizer gets approval

The UK regulatory authority on Wednesday approved the Pfizer vaccine after receiving advice from the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), the government’s independent expert scientific advisory body. Prior to approving the vaccine, the MHRA scientists and clinicians carried out a rigorous detailed review of the available data. Every batch of the vaccine will go through independent lab testing done by the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control to ensure safety. 

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According to The Guardian, the British government will be getting additional millions of doses of the vaccine apart from the 8,00,000 initial vials that it received. The additional doses are expected to be delivered by the end of this year, following which it will be deployed as soon as possible, said Johnson.

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(Image Credit: AP)