The emergency approval process being used by some countries to speed up the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines is not a legal option in Switzerland, its medicines agency said on Friday.
"Swissmedic works closely with international partner authorities and reviews all applications for COVID-19 vaccines as a matter of urgency and in a 'rolling' procedure," the Swiss agency for therapeutic products said in a statement.
Swissmedic said it had received additional details from companies on their COVID-19 vaccines that would enable it to issue authorisations quickly once sufficient data on safety, efficacy and quality were available.
However, it added: "An emergency approval for vaccines is not a legal option in Switzerland," the agency said, ruling out what it called "premature vaccinations" for the Alpine country.
The world's eyes are on Britain as the first country to approve and roll out a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.
Switzerland said this month it had signed a contract with Pfizer and BioNTech to deliver 3 million doses of their vaccine. It has also signed agreements with Moderna and AstraZeneca.
(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz. Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Potter)
