ANKARA – The European Union (EU) aims to start Covid-19 vaccination before the end of this year, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced yesterday.
Anadolu Agency, in its report quoting the drug agency, said in a written statement that the meeting to issue a decision on the vaccine will be held on December 21, eight days earlier than planned.
It said EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen took to Twitter to welcome EMA’s decision, saying: “Every day counts – we work at full speed to authorise Covid-19 vaccines that are safe and effective.
“Likely that the first Europeans will be vaccinated before end 2020!” she added.
EMA’s statement came after German Health Minister Jens Spahn said they expect the approval for the Covid-19 vaccines before Christmas.
The EU has made agreements to purchase about two billion doses of vaccine with six companies that have so far conducted “promising” vaccine studies, including 300 million from Pfizer and BioNTech.
The bloc also signed contracts with Moderna, AstraZeneca, CureVac, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi-GlaxoSmithKline.
The EMA is an EU agency that authorises the use of medicines across the member states. – Bernama, December 16, 2020
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