■ The European Union cleared the Pfizer-biontech coronavirus vaccine.

Administration of COVID vaccine to start just after Christmas

BRUSSELS — The European Union gave official approval Monday for the coronavirus vaccine developed by Biontech and Pfizer to be used across the 27-nation bloc, raising hopes that countries can begin administering the first shots to their citizens shortly after Christmas.

The EU’S executive commission gave the green light just hours after the European Medicines Agency said the vaccine meets safety and quality standards. Brussels had been expected to take two or three days to endorse the market authorization move.

“As we have promised, this vaccine will be available for all EU countries at the same time on the same conditions,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “This is a very good way to end this difficult year and to finally start turning the page on COVID-19.”

Deliveries of the vaccine are expected to start this coming Saturday, with inoculations beginning across the EU between Dec. 27 and Dec. 29.

Health care workers and other highrisk populations already have started receiving the Biontech-pfizer vaccine in Britain and the United States, prompting pressure from European governments for EU regulators to act more quickly than they originally planned.

Harald Enzmann, the head of the European Medicines Agency’s expert committee, dismissed any suggestion that political influence had affected the decision.

“The focus was exclusively on the science,” he told reporters. “That was a scientific assessment, full stop.”

The Amsterdam-based EMA is responsible for approving all new drugs and vaccines across the 27 EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It is roughly equivalent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The vaccine has already been given some form of regulatory approval in at least 15 countries.

The EU has ordered 300 million doses of the Biontech-pfizer vaccine; two are needed for each person, meaning other shots will be required to immunize all of the bloc’s nearly 450 million inhabitants.

The EMA plans to hold a meeting on Jan. 6 to decide if another vaccine made by Moderna should be licensed.