The Hague (AFP)

The European Medicines Agency is due to look into the fate of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday, paving the way for a possible start of vaccinations in Europe before the end of the year.

The Amsterdam-based MEA had brought forward by a week the meeting originally scheduled for December 29, during which it must announce whether or not it will authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, while Germany and other countries are pushing for a quick decision.

Calls for rapid action had multiplied after UK and US granted emergency clearance for Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as did Canada, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Singapore, Israel and Switzerland.

The European regulator had indicated that it would decide only when "the data on the quality, the safety and the effectiveness of the vaccine" would be "sufficiently solid and complete to determine if the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks which are there. related. "

EU member states are due to start the vaccination campaign on December 27, provided that the AEM grants its conditional marketing authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by then, the European Commission said.

"We were able to revise the schedule for evaluating the anti-Covid-19 vaccines thanks to the incredible efforts of all those involved in these checks," AEM Director General Emer Cooke said last week.

If the EAJ committee fails to make a decision on Monday, it will hold another meeting on December 29, he said.

- 95% effective -

The AEM was initially due to make another decision on January 12 on the competing vaccine Moderna, before also bringing it forward by a week, as for that of Pfizer-BioNTech.

The vaccine developed by the American giant Pfizer and the German company BioNTech has been shown to be 95% effective during international studies in which two doses were injected three weeks apart.

The regulator carried out a "continuous review" of laboratory test and clinical trial data for the vaccine.

Usually, it would only review the data after collecting it all.

Pfizer-BioNTech completed an authorization request on December 1 and the AEM reacted, indicating that it would make its decision on December 29 at an expert meeting.

But the post-Brexit UK - home of the EAJ until last year - the US and Canada have given the emergency green light, allowing them to launch their campaigns earlier. vaccination.

Several states had complained about a decision-making deadline which they considered too slow, after a European summit during which the Polish and Hungarian leaders had called on the EAJ to accelerate.

Berlin had strongly supported the calls made earlier by Hungary and Poland for a quicker decision.

The European Medicines Agency had in reaction brought forward the date of announcement of its decision by eight days, thus moving it to December 21.

It also faced a major cyberattack in which data regarding Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna was stolen, but it had no impact on the schedule, according to the AEM.

If the European Medicines Agency gives the green light on Monday, the European Commission should quickly approve the decision to launch vaccination throughout the European Union, which has nearly 450 million inhabitants.

"Europe stands ready. If the European Medicines Agency approves the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, the vaccination campaign can start on December 27," tweeted the European Commission.

The EU says it is setting up a coordinated vaccination program in the 27 member countries to allow equitable access to vaccine doses.

© 2020 AFP