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Green light for the vaccine within a week, from the 29th to before Christmas. And 7 EU countries, joined by Switzerland, which issued a joint declaration of commitment to launch the vaccination campaign together. Despite, at least for the moment, the dream of a united and compact Europe in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. And despite the precautions that the EMA had taken regarding pressure from national governments, in particular from Berlin and, apparently, from Rome.
Controversy
After days of controversy, the EMA, the European drug agency, has anticipated the meeting of its permanent committee that should give, except for surprises, the green light for the administration of the vaccine developed by Pfizer / BioNtech in the EU. The announcement came after the words of the German Health Minister, Jens spahn, which had raised doubts about the delay in the approval of the drug by the EU agency, especially the green light obtained by the same vaccine in the UK, Canada and the US (the latter two with a “conditional “and not an emergency, that is, with the same route chosen by the EMA). The minister had gone further, hoping to receive clearance before Christmas. Words that the European Commission did not like.
“We are not going to compromise security and we will not exert any political pressure on the EMA for this purpose,” an Agi spokesperson told theEU Executive “The EMA is an independent agency and the vaccine authorization process is solely in their hands” and therefore “the timing also depends on them.” The EMA authorization “will arrive no later than December 29,” as the agency announced, the spokesperson had clarified. But a few hours later it was the same agency based in Amsterdam to communicate a change in the programs: the EMA committee will meet in an extraordinary way on December 21 to express your opinion on the Pfizer / BioNtech anti-Covid vaccine.
The prayer
“The EMA Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use and its experts have worked intensively in recent weeks to evaluate the data presented by BioNTech and Pfizer in the context of the application for conditional marketing authorization” of the anti-Covid vaccine, yes read in a note from the EMA. “The speed of progress depends on a robust and comprehensive evaluation of quality, safety and efficacy and is determined by the availability of additional information from the company to answer the questions posed during the evaluation. After receiving the additional data requested from the company and pending the result of its evaluation, an extraordinary meeting of the commission has now been scheduled for December 21 “and if possible” to reach a conclusion. Ema explains that the meeting scheduled for December 29 will be held “if necessary.” The agency “will complete its evaluation as soon as possible and only after the data on the quality, safety and efficacy of the vaccine are robust and complete enough to determine whether the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks.”
The first Europeans vaccinated
Ema’s note was welcomed, at least at an official level, by the President of the EU Commission. Ursula von der Leyen“Probably the first Europeans will be vaccinated at the end of 2020,” he said commenting on the announcement. But another note came up close, that of the health ministers of 8 European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland, Spain me Switzerland), who made it known that they had committed to starting “the vaccination campaign together.” “We reaffirm the need – we read – to coordinate our efforts for a safe, efficient and transparent use of the anti-Covid vaccine”, with measures such as the fight against “misinformation in vaccines, to inform the population about the justification of the cost / benefit assessment ”and“ ensure clear and transparent communication to the population about vaccination and how it will be carried out ”.
It is not clear at the moment if the other 20 Member States will immediately join these countries (7 from the EU and 1 more). Or if it will be a two-speed Europe again. An eventuality that von der Leyen had wanted to avoid. The validated and pre-ordered coronavirus vaccines at the European level will be distributed to all EU member states “at the same time and under the same conditions, depending on their share of the EU population they have,” said the President of the Commission. Last October. “All member states agree on this,” he added. Obviously something seems to have changed.
