A health worker holds a vial of coronavirus vaccine (COVID-19) at Glendale Dignity Health Memorial Hospital and Center in Glendale, California, USA, December 17, 2020.
Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
The European Medicines Regulator authorized Pfizer and BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for conditional use on Monday, opening the door to an inoculation program across the European Union.
The news comes less than two weeks after the vaccine developed in America and Germany was approved for use in the UK and US
Europe is set to start vaccinations in a week, regulators said, and authorities in several EU countries, including France, Italy, Austria and Germany, said they plan to start vaccinations on December 27th.
The vaccine must be approved by the European Commission before it can be distributed and a decision is expected soon.
The European Medicines Agency said in a statement on Monday that it had recommended conditional marketing authorization for the vaccine for people aged 16 and over.
“EMA’s scientific opinion paves the way for the European Commission’s first authorization to place a COVID-19 vaccine on the market, with all the guarantees, controls and obligations that this entails,” the agency said.
Vaccination permits are growing more and more as European countries tighten their blockages amid a deadly winter wave of virus infections.
A new and highly transmissible variant of the virus has been detected in the UK, which has led Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose a strict blockade on certain areas. This has led to an increasing number of countries to suspend flights and transport links on the island.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed nearly half a million people across Europe since its inception.
Governments are struggling to implement effective strategies both to prevent future infections and to keep local economies afloat as cases and deaths hit new highs this holiday season.
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