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The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended conditional marketing authorization for the corona vaccine from the British-Swedish group AstraZeneca in the European Union.
Admission is to apply to people aged 18 and over.
The EMA announced on Friday in Amsterdam.
The final decision on approval must now be made by the EU Commission - this is a formal matter and could still be made on Friday.
This clears the way for the third vaccine against Covid-19 in the EU.
In Great Britain, the preparation, which AstraZeneca developed together with Oxford University, has been in widespread use since the beginning of January.
So far, only vaccines from the manufacturers Pfizer / Biontech and Moderna have been approved in the EU.
The vaccine from AstraZeneca is considered to be particularly inexpensive and handy for mass vaccinations.
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Despite concerns previously expressed by other experts, EMA experts recommend approval for people of all ages 18+.
Even if there were comparatively few test persons over 55 years of age, this is justifiable.
The EMA justifies this decision with the good test results for the other age groups and experience with other vaccines.
The manufacturer had previously rejected reports as false that the vaccine was only eight percent effective in people over 65.
Stiko recommends vaccine up to age 64
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The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) recommends the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Germany for people aged 18 to 64 years.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) published this recommendation on the Internet on Friday evening.
According to Stiko, there is not yet sufficient data to assess the effectiveness of the vaccination in older people.
Apart from the age restriction, Stiko also classified the vaccine from the British-Swedish group as "suitable for individual protection and for combating the pandemic".
In its communication, Stiko does not recommend changes to the current vaccination sequence, which gives priority to older people or people with a particularly high risk of infection.
However, in contrast to the already approved mRNA vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna, the preparation from AstraZeneca “should only be offered in the individual stages to people who are 18 to 64 years old”.
When will the vaccine be delivered?
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The big question, however, is when will the vaccine be delivered?
The EU Commission is involved in an open dispute with the manufacturer.
Because of alleged production problems, large quantities of the vaccine for Germany and other EU countries will not be delivered until weeks or months later.
The EU had ordered a total of 400 million vaccine doses.
The data on this active ingredient have been thoroughly checked, said EMA boss Emer Cooke, "the scientific basis of our work underscores our firm commitment to ensure the health of EU citizens".
Even after the recommendation and a conditional marketing authorization, the experts would continue to monitor data on safety and effectiveness.
In the case of a conditional approval, the manufacturer is obliged to transmit data to the EMA afterwards, for example on the long-term effect.
Information on possible side effects will also continue to be checked.