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EU agency will approve COVID-19 vaccine by Dec 23, says German health minister
Christmas lights shine over a virtually empty shopping street in the old town of Duesseldorf, Germany, Dec 14, 2020. (Photo: AP/Martin Meissner)
15 Dec 2020 09:31PM (Updated:
15 Dec 2020 09:47PM) Share this content
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BERLIN: After days of pressuring the European Union s medical regulator, Germany’s health minister said on Tuesday (Dec 15) that he has received assurances that the European Medicines Agency will approve a COVID-19 vaccine by Dec 23.
Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday he “welcomed” German media reports that said EMA would finalise its approval process of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine by Dec 23, instead of at a Dec 29 meeting.
BERLIN (AP) After days of pressuring the European Union s medical regulator, Germany’s health minister said Tuesday that he has received assurances that the European Medicines Agency will approve a coronavirus vaccine by Dec. 23.
Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday he “welcomed” German media reports that said EMA would finalize its approval process of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine by Dec. 23, instead of at a Dec. 29 meeting.
“Our goal is an approval before Christmas,” Spahn said. “We want to still start vaccinating this year.”
Asked afterward by The Associated Press whether he had received direct confirmation that the vaccine would be approved by then, Spahn said he had, “otherwise I wouldn’t have said that.”
EU set for vaccines by year-end after regulator relents
Issued on:
15/12/2020 - 15:20 4 min
The Hague (AFP)
The EU s medicines regulator on Tuesday dramatically advanced the decision day for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus jab under pressure from Germany, meaning vaccinations in the bloc could start by the year s end.
The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency s announcement that it will meet on December 21 instead of December 29 to decide whether to authorise the shot, followed a growing backlash from desperate EU countries.
Europe has been lagging behind as post-Brexit Britain the EMA s former home became the first country in the world to grant emergency approval for the vaccine, swiftly followed by the United States, Canada, Singapore and Bahrain.
After days of pressuring the European Medicines Agency, Germany’s health minister has said he has received assurances it will approve a coronavirus vaccine by December 23.
Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday that he welcomed reports the EMA will finalise its approval process of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine by December 23 instead of at a December 29 meeting.
Mr Spahn would not say from whom he received the confirmation and the EMA could not immediately be reached for comment on exactly when it would release its findings on the approval process.
Jens Spahn has expressed impatience with the EMA (Tobias Schwarz/Pool/AP)