The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved this Monday the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 in the European Union, in a meeting that was anticipated after being initially scheduled for 29 December.
“This is indeed a historic scientific achievement,” said Emer Cooke, director general of EMA.
The vaccine will still have to have a final and formal approval by the European Commission – which is expected to happen today – before distribution to the Member States begins. After the 23rd, the pharmacist is authorized to start with the distribution of the drug by the 27th in the next days so that the vaccination process starts, simultaneously, on the 27th, 28th and 29th of December, as had already been announced by the minister da Saúde, Marta Temido, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
As for the new strain that now circulates all over Europe, and its origin was detected in London, the official says that “there are no indicators that suggest that the new variant of the virus is immune to the vaccine”.
Although the moment of approval of this vaccine is “a happy moment” and a “big step in the right direction”, the official recalls that this vaccine does not mean that the containment measures and preventive behaviors should be forgotten.
“Vaccines alone will not be the lifeline that will allow us to return to normality, but the approval of this vaccine is certainly a big step in the right direction.”
Government expects to start vaccination against Covid-19 between 27 and 29 December
In Portugal, the coordinator of the working group responsible for drafting a vaccination response against Covid-19, predicts that health centers can vaccinate up to 75,000 people per day, and anticipates receiving the first doses of the vaccine (about 9,750 units) between December 24th and 26th.
The European Commission has already signed contracts with vaccine companies AstraZeneca (300 million doses), Sanofi-GSK (300 million), Johnson & Johnson (200 million), BioNTech and Pfizer (300 million), CureVac (405 million) and Moderna (160 million).
Last week, the European Medicines Agency anticipated another extraordinary meeting on 6 January to complete the evaluation of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by the modern pharmaceutical company, which was previously scheduled for 12 January.
EMA received last Thursday, “ahead of schedule”, the last pending package of clinical data necessary for its specialists to evaluate Moderna’s application for a conditional license to market its drug in the European Union, which may allow this agency to anticipate the announcement of its findings on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
–
