View of the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine boxes at Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, UK on 2 January 2021.
Gareth Fuller | Reuters
LONDON – AstraZeneca’s covid-19 vaccine could be available across the European Union in mid-February, an EU official said on Tuesday after the pharmaceutical company applied for approval of the distribution to the 27-member bloc.
The European Medicines Agency announced on Tuesday that it is now studying the results of the AstraZeneca vaccine and Oxford University under an “accelerated timeline” and that it could issue its opinion on 29 January. Gener.
“If we had a satisfactory authorization for the AstraZeneca contract … we hope that two weeks after this authorization, AstraZeneca can make the first delivery,” said Sandra Gallina, director general of health and food safety of the European Commission. lawmakers Tuesday morning.
“And they are thinking of saying two deliveries a month, but all this is in process, they have to discuss it with the member states,” he added.
The EU has a contract with AstraZeneca to buy up to 400 million doses of its vaccine. One of its advantages is that it can be stored in normal refrigerators and not at extremely low temperatures like some of its competitors. However, this score has also been criticized after manufacturers admitted an error in late November, which was later corrected.
This would be the third vaccine approval in the EU containing the pandemic. The block has vaccinated citizens with the Pfizer / BioNTech jab since late December and the Modern Vaccine received the green light for distribution last week.
Gallina told lawmakers that on Monday the first Modern strikes began to be distributed among member states.
We bought everything that was offered.
Sandra Gallina
Director-General of the European Commission
Still, the European Commission has been blamed for what critics describe as a slow deployment of coronavirus vaccines. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin on Monday sent a letter to the commission urging the institution to speed up the distribution of vaccines.
“It baffles me again the debate over why we don’t buy more,” said Gallina, who has been the pharmaceutical company’s chief negotiator.
“We bought everything that was offered,” he explained.
“Not only are quantities being traded, but a specific quantity is being negotiated for the time being, so we have all the quantities that can be produced,” Gallina added.
The speed of vaccination has varied among the 27 countries, in part due to bureaucracy and a lack of preparation by some governments.
According to Gallina, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control will provide figures on the number of citizens vaccinated across the EU twice a week starting next week.
Shares of AstraZeneca fell to trading principles in Europe.