COVID-19: Fauci says UK vaccine approval 'much less deep' than US - but jab is 'safe'

The White House's chief immunologist has told Sky News he believes the British approval of the Pfizer COVID vaccine has been done in a "much less deep" way than would have been done in the US.

Dr Anthony Fauci told Sky News he believed the data "clearly shows that the vaccine is safe and effective" but that the speed in which it had been passed by the UK health regulator would have prompted scepticism in the US about its safety.

On Wednesday the UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTechCOVID vaccine.

Dr Fauci told Dermot Murnaghan his comments about its testing in the UK were not meant as "a criticism", but he said: "I think its very important for people to realise there are different levels of stringency and scrutiny when you look at the data.

"The FDA in the United States, I think, everyone realises globally is the gold standard of regulatory function.

"Here in the United States, as I'm sure is somewhat in the UK, there is this degree of scepticism on the part of the people about wanting to take a vaccine, thinking that perhaps it was done too quickly, perhaps it isn't as safe and effective as we say they are.

"So we put the data through a very, very stringent process of literally point-by-point, analysing the data.

"The UK has decided to do it a little bit differently, they've gone over it very quickly.

"And I can say - and this is not a criticism, but they've done it in a way that is much less deep than has been done, and is being done by the FDA in the United States."

Live COVID updates as UK prepares for vaccine rollout

However, Dr June Raine, chief executive of Britain's health regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), deemed the vaccine safe and said it had been tested extremely thoroughly.

She added: We have carried out a rigorous scientific assessment of all the available evidence of quality, safety and effectiveness. The public's safety has always been at the forefront of our minds - safety is our watchword."