BERLIN (GERMANY) – According to German Health Minister Jens Spahn, all EU member states will begin vaccinations against coronavirus from Dec. 27.
“In Germany we will start, if the approval comes as planned, on Dec. 27. The other countries in the EU want to be able to start and want to start from Dec. 27,” he said on Thursday ahead of a virtual meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and executives from vaccine maker BioNTech.
Germany is obliged to await the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve the shot. The EMA is expected to make an announcement on Dec. 21.
According to a senior EU official, the bloc would approve the vaccine developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech on Dec. 23.
“The fact that, in this extraordinary global situation, an mRNA vaccine like this is coming to the market so quickly is the result of the wonderful individual achievement of researchers – but also of our approach,” Merkel said.
“We believe in science, we support science.”
