AstraZeneca may be allowed to issue the Covid vaccine by late January 2021... This is what the European Medicines Agency announced on January 12, saying the pharmaceutical group sought approval for marketing authorization as soon as possible in the European Union. As for the approval, it may arrive on January 29, as the agency explains as well.
Yet, on December 29, 2020, the EMA Deputy Executive Director Noël Wathion announced the Swedish-British group will probably not be allowed to issue their vaccine in January 2021 within the European Union, unlike what was first announced.
“They haven’t even applied yet” he says – surprised – to our Belgian peers from Het Nieuwsblad. Another issue that will delay the vaccine, the little information already shared on this product with the European health authorities: “Not even enough to prove subcondition marketing license” Wathion says. He goes on: “We need additional data on the vaccine quality. And then, the company can seek formal approval”.
As many conditions that cannot enable approval from the European Medicines Agency for January 2021. For the record, the only vaccine approved by the European Union so far is by Pfizer/BioNTech which data have been assessed by the EMA and the European Commission. In France, the Haute Autorité de Santé also had to approve the vaccine before issuing it throughout the country.
