Pfizer’s vaccine won’t save the UK economy

This week the UK became the first western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine for the general public. While just about every nation is desperate for a drug to help stem the pandemic, the situation is particularly dire in Britain, where lockdowns have pushed its economy into one of the world’s deepest downturns. First, the good news: the UK’s health and medicine regulator gave the green light on Wednesday to a vaccine developed by US drugmaker Pfizer and German firm BioNTech, and next week authorities will begin giving it to people who are the most at risk from the coronavirus.