Vaccine Does Not Equal Zero Covid, Warns WHO; Bahrain 2nd Nation to Approve Pfizer Shot After UK

Bahrain said on Friday it has granted emergency use authorisation for the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the second country after Britain to approve it.

The Gulf Arab state had also approved Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine in November for use by frontline workers.

“The approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will add a further important layer to the Kingdom’s national COVID-19 response,” Dr. Mariam Al Jalahma, CEO of Bahrain’s National Health Regulatory Authority said in a statement.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), meanwhile, warned that the roll-out of vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic will not, on its own, eliminate the virus.

“Vaccines do not equal zero Covid. Vaccines and vaccination… by themselves, they will not do the job,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual news conference, adding that “the vaccine will not be with everyone early next year”.

“Progress on vaccines gives us all a lift and we can now start to see the light at the end of the…