Germany expects EMA to approve Astrazeneca vaccine

Germany's health minister Jens Spahn has said he expects the European Medicines Agency to approve the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine later Friday.

Spahn said there wasn't enough data to demonstrate conclusively that the vaccine was safe for older people.

However, he pointed out, "there is a difference between insufficient data and poor data".Spahn said he understood that people were impatient about delays in getting a COVID-19 shot.But he warned that "hard weeks of vaccine shortage" still lay ahead.

Spahn was addressing a news conference in Berlin on Friday alongside medical experts including Klaus Cichutek, the president of the Paul Ehrlich Institute.

Cichutek said the groundwork had been laid for the AstraZeneca vaccine to be approved "probably" without age restriction.