The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced Thursday evening: the European Union could give the green light from mid-December for the commercialization of the anti-covid vaccines developed by Moderna and the Pfizer alliance / BioNTech.
Placed on the market in mid-December
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is “In daily discussions” with its American counterpart, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The EMA could thus “Give conditional marketing authorization for Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines from the second half of December, if the procedures go smoothly”, said the European Commission, after a summit where the 27 discussed coordination of their measures to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Five contracts signed
The European Commission has already signed five contracts to pre-order possible vaccines: with the Swedish-British AstraZenaca, the American Johnson & Johnson, the Franco-British duo Sanofi-GSK, the American-German duo Pfizer / BioNTech and the German CureVac. After a memorandum of understanding concluded in August with the American start-up Moderna, “We are continuing the talks and we are also in discussions with Novavax”, said Ursula von der Leyen.
Gathered by videoconference for a summit devoted mainly to the management of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, European heads of state and government discussed a possible relaxation of restrictive measures for the end-of-year celebrations, without excessive looseness which could lead to a third wave.
