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FILE PHOTO: The Biontech and Pfizer logos are seen on display in this illustration taken on November 10, 2020. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration
BERLIN – Germany will launch the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 on December 27, prioritizing the elderly in nursing homes, the Berlin city government said on Wednesday.
The announcement came as Germany recorded its highest number of daily deaths from COVID-19 and entered a strict lockdown in an attempt to reduce rising infections.
As a member of the European Union, Germany must wait for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve the vaccine. He is expected to make an announcement on December 21.
A senior EU official said Wednesday that the bloc could give its final approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 23.
“The federal states will begin vaccination against the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus on December 27,” the Berlin city government said in a statement after a conference between Health Minister Jens Spahn and health officials. of the 16 states of Germany.
Spahn has expressed frustration at the lack of approval for a partially developed vaccine in Germany, even as countries like Britain and the United States are implementing it.
The number of deaths recorded by COVID-19 rose to a record 952 on Wednesday. The previous record was 598 last Friday.
However, Wednesday’s figures are not completely comparable to previous days because they were inflated by a technical problem in one state, said the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, which collects the data.
Fears that the pandemic is spiraling out of control led Chancellor Angela Merkel and state governors to announce a tough shutdown on Sunday from December 16 to at least January 10.
Stores and schools will remain closed in a tightening of restrictions leading up to Christmas after a partial closure in November that closed bars and restaurants but failed to contain a second wave of the pandemic.
Germany was more successful than many countries in keeping the coronavirus under control in the first wave of spring, but the situation looks different now.
The Robert Koch Institute put the number of confirmed cases at 1,379,238, an increase of 27,728. The total death toll in Germany is 23,427. The seven-day incidence of cases rose to 180 per 100,000 people from 174 on Tuesday.
/ MUF
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