Germany said Tuesday it wanted the European Union to approve the BioNTech/Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine "before Christmas", as calls grow for the EU health regulator to speed up its decision process.
-The goal is to get approval before Christmas- German Health Minister Jens Spahn told a press conference in Berlin. -We want to start vaccinating in Germany before the end of the year.-
The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) had previously said it planned to hold a special meeting by December 29 at the latest to discuss granting conditional approval for the jab.
That puts the EU behind a growing number of nations that have already granted emergency approval. Britain, Canada and the United States have already started vaccinating their citizens.
Germany's Bild newspaper reported that the EMA was now planning to meet on December 23, which Spahn said would be "good news for the whole European Union".
-We can be optimistic about an approval on December 23- he said.
There was no immediate confirmation from the EU health body, however.
-We know about the Bild article. We are still working with a date of 29th, at the latest. At the moment nothing has changed- an EMA spokeswoman told AFP.
Spahn's growing impatience had become clear in a series of tweets on Sunday, in which he said the European vaccine delay could undermine confidence "in the European Union's ability to act".
The German hospital association (DKG) has likewise expressed concern about the time taken by the EMA to validate the vaccine.
Spahn has nevertheless defended Berlin's decision to stick with an EU-wide approval process for all 27 member states rather than going it alone and granting emergency use authorisation on a national basis.
