Vaccine approvals offer hope as global Covid cases surge

An image showing Pfizer BioNTech mRNA vaccines

Source: © Vincent Kalut/Photonews/Getty Images

A handful of vaccines are now approved and the first doses are being given to patients, with trials for many more candidates nearing completion

As 2020 ended, news of the first Covid-19 vaccine approvals came as a huge relief to national governments and their citizens. Yet with Covid-19 infection rates rising in many countries, and with more infectious variants of the virus emerging, the need for widespread vaccination grows more urgent and regulators around the world are now racing to assess and approve vaccines.