The World Health Organization (WHO) Thursday granted its first emergency use approval since the outbreak of COVID-19 for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. This paves the way for countries across the world to quickly approve, import and distribute the vaccine.

WHO Assistant Director General for Access to Medicines, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals Mariangela Simao said, "This is a very positive step towards ensuring global access to COVID-19 vaccines."

She continued saying "I want to emphasise the need for an even greater global effort to achieve enough vaccine supply to meet the needs of priority populations everywhere."