The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it had received data from Pfizer and BioNTech on the COVID-19 vaccine and was reviewing it for "possible listing for emergency use," a benchmark for countries to authorize national use.

Referring to Britain's regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, it said in a statement to Reuters: "WHO is also in discussions with MHRA on the possibility of accessing some of the information from their assessment, which could expedite WHO’s emergency listing."

Britain approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the United States and Europe to become the West's first country to formally endorse a shot it said should reach the most vulnerable people early next week.