Coronavirus: EU regulator approves Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine

The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine has been given conditional approval to be used across the European Union, with many nations hoping to begin jabs before the new year.

The European Medicines Agency made the announcement on Monday, weeks after the vaccine was approved in the UK and the US.

The decision comes after a closed-door discussion during which EMA scientists responsible for assessing the vaccine presented their analysis to other experts and scrutinised data from companies.

The approval needs to be rubber-stamped by the European Commission and the pharmaceutical companies will need to submit follow-up data on their vaccine for the next year.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she expected the vaccine to receive the Commission's approval by Monday evening.

She said: "It’s a decisive moment in our efforts to deliver safe & effective vaccines to Europeans!"Authorities in Germany and several other European countries have said they hope to begin vaccinating people on December 27.