On Dec. 2, 2020, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the U.K. had granted a temporary authorization for emergency use for their COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2), against COVID-19.

This constituted the first Emergency Use Authorization following a worldwide Phase 3 trial of a vaccine to help fight the pandemic. The distribution of the vaccine in the U.K. was to be prioritized according to the populations identified in guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).