LONDON (REUTERS, AFP) – Britain on Wednesday (Dec 2) became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use and said that it will be rolled out from early next week.

A vaccine is seen as the best chance for the world to get back to some semblance of normality amid a global pandemic that has killed nearly 1.5 million people and upended the global economy.

“The government has today accepted the recommendation from the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for use,” the British government said.