‘Route out’ of pandemic: UK gives 1st COVID-19 vaccine doses

LONDON (AP) – A retired British shop clerk has received the first shot in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program, the start of an unprecedented global immunization effort intended to offer a route out of a pandemic that has killed 1.5 million.

The U.K. is the first Western country to start a mass vaccination program after British regulators last week authorized the use of a COVID-19 shot developed by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.

U.S. and European Union authorities may approve the vaccine in the coming weeks, fueling a global immunization effort. Britain’s program is likely to provide lessons for other countries as they prepare for the unprecedented task of vaccinating billions of people.