Germany looking forward to starting life-saving vaccinations
\nnews agency
\nBERLIN
\nEuropean Union states will start vaccinations against COVID-19 in 10 days as Europe tries to catch up with Britain and United States after what some have criticized as a slow EU approval process for the shots.
\nThe Dec. 27 start date \u2014 confirmed by EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, Austria, Germany and Italy \u2014 will be almost three weeks after the world\u2019s first fully-tested COVID-19 vaccination was administered in England.
\n\u201cIn 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,\u201d Health Minister Jens Spahn said before an online meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel and executives from vaccine maker BioNTech.
\nAs a member of the EU, Germany is obliged, by and large, to wait for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve the vaccine. The EMA is expected to make an announcement on Dec. 21.
\nA senior EU official said on Wednesday the bloc could give its final approval for the vaccine, developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, on Dec. 23.
\nVon der Leyen confirmed the planned timetable for the start of inoculations for the European Union\u2019s 450 million citizens.
\n\u201cOn 27, 28 and 29 December vaccination will start across the EU,\u201d she wrote on Twitter. She had previously called for a coordinated start to inoculations on the same day in all 27 EU countries.
\nItaly said it would start vaccinating health workers on Dec. 27, the Sunday after Christmas. Vaccinations will also start in Austria on that date, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Twitter.
\nBritain, which left the EU early this year, approved the shot on Dec. 3 for emergency use, followed by Canada on Dec. 9 and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Dec. 11.
\nIn Britain, around 140,000 people have already received the jabs, BioNTech Chief Medical Officer Oezlem Tuereci said at Thursday\u2019s online event.
\nAccording to Spahn, the vaccine should become available to all 27 EU member states at the same time, regardless of their financial strength, thanks to negotiations led by the European Commission that he said were an \u201cimportant signal of European solidarity.\u201d
\nMerkel said Germany was looking forward to starting life-saving vaccinations, a day after the country reported 952 deaths related to the coronavirus, its highest daily number yet.
\n\u201cIf we look at how many people are dying of coronavirus now, we know how many people this (vaccine) can save,\u201d she said.
\nBioNTech\u2019s Tuereci said the \u201cmarathon\u201d was not over yet for the vaccine maker.
\n\u201cOur team here at BioNTech has been working through nights and weekends, has put off vacations. They will continue over the Christmas to make sure delivery can happen quickly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Germany looking forward to starting life-saving vaccinations news agency BERLIN European Union states will start vaccinations against COVID-19 in 10 days as Europe tries to catch up with Britain and United States after what some have criticized as a slow EU approval process for the shots. The Dec. 27 start date \u2014 confirmed by EU […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n