European Medicines Agency clears Pfizer vaccine for use in EU

The European medicines regulator on Monday cleared Pfizer and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for conditional use, opening the door to a vaccination program across the European Union.

The news comes less than two weeks after the approval of the vaccine developed by the United States and Germany in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Europe is on track to start vaccinations within a week, regulators said, and authorities in several EU countries, including France, Italy, Austria and Germany, have announced their intention to start vaccinations on December 27.

The vaccine must be approved by the European Commission before it can be distributed and a decision is expected shortly.

The European Medicines Agency said in a statement on Monday that it had recommended the granting of conditional marketing authorization for the vaccine in people aged 16 and over.

“The scientific opinion of the EMA paves the way for the first marketing authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine in the EU by the European Commission, with all the guarantees, controls and obligations that this implies”, the agency said.

Vaccine authorizations are accelerating as European countries tighten their lockdowns amid a deadlier winter wave of viral infections.

A new, highly transmissible variant of the virus has been detected in the UK, prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose strict lockdowns in some areas. This has led a growing number of countries to suspend flights and transport links from the island.

The coronavirus pandemic has killed nearly half a million people across Europe since it began.

Governments are struggling to implement effective strategies to both prevent new infections and keep local economies afloat as cases and deaths hit new records as the holidays approach.

This is breaking news. Please come back for more details.