European Commission Authorizes First COVID-19 Vaccine

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended granting conditional marketing authorization for the vaccine Comirnaty, developed by BioNTech and Pfizer (BNT162b2), to prevent COVID-19 in people from 16 years of age. This EMA scientific opinion paves the way for the first marketing authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine in the EU by the European Commission.

Emer Cooke, Executive Director of EMA, said in a press release, “... our work does not stop here. We will continue to collect and analyze data on the safety and effectiveness of this vaccine to protect people from taking the vaccine in the EU.”