EU body bows to wishes for fast track on vaccine
Berlin’s pressure keys on fact that firm is German
BERLIN — Facing strong pressure from Germany and other European Union nations, the bloc’s medicines agency on Tuesday moved up a meeting to assess the Pfizer-bionTech coronavirus vaccine to Dec. 21, likely bringing vaccinations a step closer for millions of EU citizens.
The agency said it made the decision after receiving additional data from the vaccine-makers. The announcement came after Germany’s health minister and others publicly demanded that the agency move more quickly than its previously planned Dec. 29 meeting, at which it was to discuss approval of the vaccine.
The vaccine is already being given daily to thousands of people in Britain, Canada and the United States, galling some Europeans, who note that Biontech is a German company.
The European Medicines Agency said it’s human medicines committee “will conclude its assessment at the earliest possible timepoint and only once the data on the quality, safety and effectiveness of the vaccine are sufficiently robust and complete to determine whether the vaccine’s benefits outweigh its risks.”
After the committee recommends a marketing authorization, the EU’S Executive Commission will “fast track its decision-making process” to giving the vaccine approval for all 27 EU nations and a few others within days, the EMA said.
“Our goal is an approval before Christmas,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters earlier Tuesday in Berlin. “We want to still start vaccinating this year.”
Spahn has expressed impatience with the EMA for days, noting that
Germany has created some 440 vaccination centers, activated about 10,000 doctors and medical staffers and was ready to start mass vaccinations immediately.
Italy, where Europe’s coronavirus outbreak erupted in February and which now leads the continent in the COVID-19 death count, also was pressing for a safe, accelerated approval process.
The German Hospital Association chimed in Tuesday, demanding that the EU shorten its lengthy approval process and issue emergency authorization for the Pfizer-biontech vaccine.
Spahn’s growing anxiety comes as Germany has been hitting records of new daily infections and virus deaths in recent weeks. Hospitals and medical groups across Germany have also repeatedly warned they are reaching their limits in caring for COVID-19 patients. On Tuesday, 4,670 COVID-19 patients were being treated in German ICUS.
The nation is going into a hard lockdown Wednesday, with schools and most stores shutting down until at least Jan. 10 to stop the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases.