BRUSSELS: The European Union’s top official said Thursday that two COVID-19 vaccines could receive conditional market authorization as early as the second half of December.
Speaking after a meeting of EU leaders, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer, which created its serum with German drugmaker BioNTech, could be approved by the end of the year by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) “if all proceeds now without any problem.” Von der Leyen added “this is the very first step to be able to be on the market.”
Von der Leyen said the EMA is in constant contact with the FDA to synchronize the assessment of the vaccines. The European commission has sealed deals with several pharmaceutical companies including BioNTech and Pfizer to buy millions of doses of vaccines on behalf of all EU Member States. Von der Leyen said earlier this week the commission hopes a deal with Moderna will be soon finalized.