The coronavirus vaccine developed by drug companies Pfizer-BioNTech has been approved for use in the UK and will be available from next week, according to the UK’s Department of Health.

"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 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," a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said in a 2 December statement.