UK's Johnson Hopes Regulator Will Approve COVID-19 Vaccines Before Christmas

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2020) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday he hoped that two promising coronavirus vaccine candidates would be approved shortly.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is yet to greenlight the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca co-labs.

"We're obviously hoping that both the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will get approved in the course of the next few days and weeks," he told reporters during a trip to a medical facility.

Asked whether that meant before vaccines would get a go-ahead before Christmas, the prime minister replied "That's the hope."

Johnson stressed that his government could not let the optimist "run away with us." But he added there was every reason to believe that a working vaccine could turn the tide in the struggle against the virus.