EU to speed approval of variant-modified coronavirus vaccines - paper
14/02/2021 03:00
FRANKFURT, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The European Union will fast
track approvals of coronavirus vaccines adapted to combat
mutations, the bloc's Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said
in a newspaper interview on Sunday.
"We have now decided that a vaccine that has been improved
by the manufacturer on the basis of the previous vaccine to
combat new mutations no longer has to go through the entire
approval process," she told Bavaria's Augsburger Allgemeine.
"So it will be faster to have suitable vaccines available
without compromising on safety."
The European Commission has come under fire from EU member
states over delays to deliveries of vaccines which has seen the
bloc lag behind countries such as Britain, a former member, and
the United States. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS8N2K305Z
Kyriakides is a member of a new task force, led by Industry
Commissioner Thierry Breton, to eliminate bottlenecks in
production plants and adjust output to new variants. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2KA6PK
While vaccinations in the first quarter of 2021 have started
slowly, the second quarter would see a pick-up and by the end of
September the EU expects to have received sufficient doses from
licenced producers to cover over 70% of its population,
Kyriakides said.
She also reiterated the Commission view that closing borders
was not an effective weapon against infections.
"I think it is wrong for us to return to a Europe with
closed borders, as in March 2020," she said.
Germany will enforce entry bans on travellers from the Czech
Republic and Austria's Tyrol region from Sunday to prevent the
spread of new variants. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2KI3I8
(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Mike Harrison)
((vera.eckert@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 2201 33654;
@EckertVera;))