MP Nadhim Zahawi welcomes AstraZeneca vaccination approval

Stratford MP and vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi welcomed the news announced today (Wednesday) that the AstraZeneca vaccine had been approved for use. He commented: “This is an important day in the fight against Covid-19. We now have two vaccines approved and this is a big step forward for the UK and the world.”

The government has said that the vaccine will be rolled out to priority groups from Monday.

Commenting further Mr Zahawi said: “Our brilliant NHS teams across the UK have been working tirelessly to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of people with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, despite the significant logistical hurdles.

“The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will significantly boost our efforts to protect those most at risk from Covid-19 as it can be transported easier and, once extensive quality checks have taken place, the vaccine will be sent to vaccination sites across the UK and carefully unpacked ready for vaccinations to begin next week.”

In a statement released today (Wednesday) a spokesperson said the approval followed “months of rigorous clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people and an extensive analysis of the vaccine’s safety, quality and effectiveness by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).”