Germany health minister says COVID-19 vaccines to be approved ‘before Christmas’

Germany’s health minister on December 14 said that European Union’s regulatory ncy must authorise COVID-19 vaccines before Christmas to end devastating impact of pandemic. European Union drug ncy said that it may need time until December 29 to approve Pfizer and BioNtech and at least four more weeks deline of Jan. 12 to approve Moderna vaccine as it was still reviewing safety and efficacy data. German Health Minister Jens Spahn told public brocaster Deutschlandfunk that he plans to start iculating population by end of year in cold winter months as people spend more time indoors. Germany has ordered up to 100 million doses of BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine and will start vaccinating vulnerable, nurses and doctors as first batch arrives, health minister informed. 

US-based Pfizer anunced in a release that it applied for authorization of its vaccine named BNT162b2 with 95 percent efficacy in Europe. anuncement came simultaneously with rival US firm Moderna informing same, that it h applied to EU and US regulators for approval. "We have kwn since beginning of this journey that patients are waiting, and we stand rey to ship COVID-19 vaccine doses as soon as potential authorizations will allow us,'' Pfizer's chief executive, Albert Bourla, said in a statement. Me in collaboration with German pharmaceutical company BioNtech, Pfizer received an estimated 375 million euros ($450 million) in funding for production and research of vaccine. 

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To vaccinate 83 million

However, Spahn said that he would rely on safety data first and with information that he h received in recent days he’d assume that approval will only happen around end of year. Some studies obviously need a little longer to be submitted, Spahn told local brocasters in a press dress, ding, that something so important as vaccination of 83 million people was something that needs to be prepared. French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge informed same that mass vaccination might start as early as first week of January. Thus far, EU bloc has signed for vaccine shipment with AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, CureVac, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Safi-GlaxoSmithKline. 

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