Coronavirus vaccine

The United Kingdom gave emergency approval this week to a COVID-19 vaccine and plans to begin rolling it out next week. Though Russia had previously approved a vaccine, the U.K. is the first country where regulators approved a vaccine that is backed by transparent science. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will consider granting its regulatory approval next week.

Pfizer and BioNTech (a German company), which developed the vaccine, say it is 95% effective based on the latest clinical trial involving 43,000 subjects.

To learn more about the vaccine and what the U.K.'s fast approval of it means, NPR spoke with Dr. Richard Hatchett, the chief executive officer of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which develops vaccines against emerging infectious diseases.