An application for authorization of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine has been submitted to the European Medicines Agency.

The body could make its decision by the end of the month, while the European Union is under pressure to speed up vaccination. 

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on Tuesday that it had received an application for authorization for the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine against the new coronavirus, specifying that it could make its decision on January 29.

"The EMA has received a request for authorization for a conditional marketing of the vaccine against the Covid-19 developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford," said the European agency based in Amsterdam, in a statement .

The EMA has already authorized the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on December 21 and the Moderna vaccine on January 6, for which the European Commission immediately gave the green light.

The agency said it would conduct an expedited review, with a decision that could be made on Jan. 29, if the reported data is "robust and complete" enough.

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EU under pressure to speed up approval of new vaccines

The European Union and the EMA are under pressure to speed up approval of new vaccines against the virus, which has already claimed more than 620,000 lives across the continent.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the application for the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine as "good news".

"Once the vaccine has received a positive scientific opinion we will work as soon as possible to authorize its use in Europe," she said on Twitter.

The AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine is cheaper to produce than that of its rivals.

It is also easier to store and transport, especially that from Pfizer / BioNTech which must be stored at very low temperatures (-70 ° C).

The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine is a "viral vector" vaccine which takes as a carrier another virus (a chimpanzee adenovirus) transformed and adapted to fight Covid-19.

It has, however, been the subject of criticism due to confusion in interim results from clinical trials.

The British laboratory had announced in November that its vaccine was on average 70% effective against more than 90% for those of Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna.

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Concerns about its effectiveness 

The efficacy of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine is 90% for the volunteers who first received a half dose, then a full dose a month later, but only 62% for another group which was however more vaccinated. with two full doses one month apart.

The half-dose injection was actually due to an error and only a small group had followed the second protocol, which raised concerns, prompting the company to announce on November 26 that a "study was being held. additional "to verify these results.

"We believe that we have found the winning formula and how to achieve an efficiency which, with two doses, is high like that of the others", has since assured the managing director of AstraZeneca, Pascal Soriot.

The EMA had also requested additional information related to the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

They have been provided, she said on Tuesday, and they are being reviewed.