Good news amid the fight against Covid! President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen announced this Wednesday December 16 the countries of the European Union will be able to launch their vaccination campaign on the same day, once the EMA – European Medicines Agency – has approved Pfizer’s application for issuing their vaccine.
“Finally, within a week, the first vaccine will be authorized so that vaccinations can start immediately […] This is a huge task” she said. She went on: “So let's start rapidly with the vaccination together, as 27, on the same day.” As to know when will vaccinations will start, German Health Minister Jens Spahn even announced a date: December 27th, confirmed this Thursday December 17, 2020 by President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen. According to Bild, Berlin put pressure on the health institution to make the approval process end earlier, on December 23 instead of the 29th as originally planned by the agency. A date approved by the EMA.
Yet, it will take a few more days for vaccinations to start, the Commission being able to deliver issuance only after consulting the state members. “In total, we have bought more than enough doses for everyone in Europe” via deals made with different laboratories in order to create a “diverse share” Ursula Von der Leyen explains. “As we have been united through the pandemic, we will get out of it together & united” she twitted.
For the record, the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is already made available in several countries such as the United-Kingdom, Canada and the United-States of America. As for Moderna Therapeutics vaccine, seeking issuance in Europe a few days after Pfizer, no news as for the approval by the EU has been shared yet.
