Photo: Getty Images/Leon Neal
The first COVID-19 vaccine is now available for use in the European Union. On Monday the European Commission approved the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine for use. Today we are adding an important chapter to our fight against COVID-19, stressed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen following the decision.
The approval was based on the relevant recommendation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A few hours earlier it had recommended authorising the BioNTech vaccine. EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke said it was a scientific breakthrough. A new vaccine for a novel disease has been developed within one year. Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn described the process as a milestone in the fight against the pandemic .
Photo: Bundesregierung/Bergmann We are incredibly proud to have research scientists like you in our country, said Chancellor Angela Merkel during her virtual visit to vaccination company BioNTech. Congratulations on what you have achieved. The Chancellor pointed to the months of hard graft and phenomenal effort that culminated in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. You didn’t throw in the towel. You believed in your technology.
The resulting vaccine, said the Chancellor, is both the reflection of an incredible individual achievement in the field of research and the reflection of our overall approach, of the fact that we believe in science, and that we support science . We are looking forward to the day when we can start vaccinating – when the vaccine is approved, declared Chancellor Angela Merkel. In view of the current high numbers of COVID-19 deaths, it is clear how many lives can be saved by vaccinations.