Vaccine travel: UK becomes the first country to approve COVID-19 vaccine; many Indians trying to book a UK trip

In a historic medical breakthrough, the United Kingdom has become the first country in the world to approve of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech SE. According to the government reports, the vaccine will be made available in the UK starting next week. The UK government approved the vaccine and made the announcement.

Soon after the vaccine news hit the internet and other media platforms, a number of Indians were reported to be calling travel agents to arrange their UK tickets to get the vaccine. PTI reported that a Mumbai-based travel agent told them on Wednesday that a number of Indians have asked questions on "how and when and if" they can travel to the UK for vaccine purposes. Some prominent travel booking firms in India are still waiting to get more clarity on this from the UK government. Nothing is clear about quarantine requirements right now, or whether Indians are even eligible for vaccination in the UK or not.
Meanwhile, the UK’s mass vaccination drive is said to commence as early as next week. The UK government in a statement said, “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. This follows months of rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA who have concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness."

As per reports, the UK has ordered doses of the two-shot vaccine, enough to vaccinate 20 million people. The Pfizer-BioNTech firms have also done deals to supply hundreds of millions of shots to Europe, the US, Japan and other countries too.
The significant news comes as a ray of hope when the whole world is battling the Coronavirus pandemic and looking for ways to put a stop to its spread.