While the European Medicines Agency, then the European Commission, have given the green light to Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine against Covid-19, administrative procedures are accelerating.
The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, confirmed Monday evening that the first injections, in France, will begin on Sunday.
Relief and satisfaction on the part of laboratories, but also of European citizens.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the green light on Monday for the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, followed a few hours later by the European Commission.
A decision which is only a step for the moment, but the European Commission wants to go quickly.
The first injections will start on Sunday.
"This is a historic and scientific achievement," said Emer Cooke, EMA Executive Director.
"These vaccines will be administered to millions of people," she continued, assuring that "the scientific evidence shows that the benefits of the vaccine are greater than the risks".
In France, the start of vaccinations is scheduled for Sunday, confirmed the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, in a tweet.
The European Medicines Agency has just authorized the Pfizer vaccine.
This week should intervene the opinion of the European Commission, the High Authority of Health, and the first deliveries.
Start of the French and European vaccination campaign on Sunday!
- Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) December 21, 2020
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Acceleration of the process
However, before the start of the vaccination campaign, some administrative steps remain to be taken.
At the French level, the High Authority for Health (HAS) must indicate who are the priority people before the start of the vaccination campaign.
But here again, the tempo is accelerating and the experts are already in possession of the documents provided by Pfizer.
The first phase of vaccination should last in France until the end of February and aims to immunize one million residents and staff at risk in nursing homes.
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The new strain detected in England does not appear to disrupt the process.
Officials from the European Medicines Agency specify that at this stage, there is no evidence that the vaccine is ineffective on the mutated virus.
About a hundred "pivot" hospitals
In front of the Pfizer plant in Purse, Belgium, where the vaccine is manufactured, some refrigerated truck departures have already taken place.
Two red semi-trailers left the scene around 3 p.m. each, closely followed by a powerful sedan with tinted windows and registered in the Netherlands.
Where are they going to go?
There are more than a hundred "pivot" hospitals in France, at least one per department, as well as six public health service providers in France distributed throughout the country.
These 130 sites will then be responsible for distributing the doses to the nearest nursing homes to begin the first phase of French vaccination.
But this is done with a significant time constraint, since the doses can only be stored for a maximum of five days between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius before being administered to patients.