By Kaveesha Fernando
LONDON, United Kingdom (CWBN)_ While many have seen the UK’s recent approval of the COVID-19 vaccine as a cause for celebration, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has criticized the move, stating that the UK’s approval process was not as safe as theirs. The body, which is responsible for approving COVID-19 vaccines for the EU, has stated that their process conducts more checks and requires more evidence and is therefore safer.
The EMA criticized the UK just hours after the country approved the vaccine. Many UK citizens will have received the vaccine by the time the EMA decides whether to provisionally authorise the vaccine by December 29.
EU legislator and member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, Peter Liese, is among those who have criticized the vaccine and called for the EMA to maintain their stringent standards. He stated that he found the UK’s approval process to be problematic and pointed out that a few weeks of careful examination was better than a hasty emergency marketing authorisation of a vaccine. “The idea is not to be first but to have a safe and effective vaccine,” Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn stated at a media conference.
Meanwhile, Pfizer UK Country Manager Ben Osborn stated that they provided the same (complete) data to both countries and that the difference was in the underlying process and timelines, as opposed to any differences in data submission.
The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine. Because the vaccine must be delivered in two doses, 21 days apart, that should be enough to inoculate 20 million people – about a little less than a third of the population of the UK (about 67 million).
Edited by Elishya Perera
