//The UK is the first country to grant emergency approval to Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine

The UK is the first country to grant emergency approval to Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine

The UK has granted temporary approval to a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Most of the doses will be shipped from Pfizer’s facility in Puurs, Belgium, seen here. | Christophe Guillaume/Getty Images

The first doses may begin rolling out next week.

The United Kingdom on Wednesday granted temporary authorization for emergency use of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech to adults age 16 and older, with the first 800,000 doses of the two-dose vaccine slated to be offered in the country next week.

This makes the UK the first country to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA-based vaccine and the first government approval of a vaccine backed by a clinical trial. (Some countries like Russia and China began administering their Covid-19 vaccines before completing large-scale trials.) It’s also the fastest a vaccine has ever gained approval, albeit on a