UK to be first to clear Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine likely by next week

The U.K. is poised to become the first country to approve Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s Covid-19 vaccine, ahead of a long line of countries waiting for protection from the coronavirus.

Clearance is possible as soon as early next week, according to a person familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified because the process is confidential.

The U.K. had long signaled it would move fast on any promising vaccine candidate. Russia and China have cleared vaccines for general use, but they’re unlikely to be adopted in the U.S. and Europe.

British doctors were put on standby for