Germany’s BioNTech and its US ally Pfizer announced on Tuesday they had appealed for EU regulatory approval for their Covid-19 vaccine, increasing anticipations that the first jabs could be administered in December.
BioNTech and Pfizer stated they had submitted an appeal to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday seeking “Conditional Marketing Authorisation (CMA)” for their COVID-19 vaccine.
The move comes after large-scale tests showed their vaccine was 95 percent efficient against COVID-19 and triggered no serious side effects.
If the COVID-19 vaccine approved by the Amsterdam-based EMA, the vaccine could possibly be rolled out “in Europe before the end of 2020”, the companies stated in a statement.
Pfizer and BioNTech already filed for emergency use authorisation with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 20.
If US regulators give the green light, Americans could start getting vaccinated around mid-December. UK regulators are also screening the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine.
