The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for emergency use, thus making it the first one to be given emergency validation by the agency.

This Emergency Use Listing (EUL) will enable countries to speed up their own regulatory approval processes for import and administration of the vaccine. It will also allow UNICEF and the Pan-American Health Organization to procure the vaccine for distribution to countries in need. Dr MariângelaSimão, WHO Assistant-Director General for Access to Medicines and Health Products, called it a positive move towards ensuring global access to COVID-19 vaccines and emphasized on the need for greater effort to attain enough vaccine supply to meet the demands of priority populations across the globe… (WHO, December 31, 2020)