WHO nod for Pfizer Covid vaccine may allow better access to poor nations

The World Health Organization says it has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, meaning poorer countries may soon get access to the shot already available in Europe and North America.

Every country that has a drug regulatory agency will have to issue its own approval for any Covid-19 vaccine, but countries with weak systems usually rely on WHO to vet the shots.

The global body said late Thursday that the decision to issue its first emergency use validation for a Covid-19 vaccine "opens the door for countries to expedite their own regulatory approval processes to import and administer the vaccine."

The