The announcement of a change to the previous date of December 29 came after mounting pressure on the regulator from European countries desperate for a vaccine, particularly Germany.
The Amsterdam-based agency said it had received "additional data" from the company on Monday that was requested by the EMA committee that examines medicines for human use.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the announcement, saying it meant vaccinations would likely start before the end of the year.
Every day counts - we work at full speed to authorise #COVID19 vaccines that are safe & effective.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 15, 2020
I welcome @EMA_News bringing forward its meeting to discuss the @pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, before Christmas.
Likely that the first Europeans will be vaccinated before end 2020!
The news comes as Germany increased the pressure on European regulators to speed up their review of a coronavirus vaccine, with German Health Minister Jens Spahn, a hospital association and several lawmakers urging that the vaccine be given the stamp of approval by next week.
Spahn has expressed impatience with the EMA for days, noting that Germany has created some 440 vaccination centres, activated about 10,000 doctors and medical staff and was ready to start mass vaccinations immediately.
The new vaccine developed by Germany’s BioNTech and American drugmaker Pfizer is already being used in Britain, the United States, Canada and other countries. Seeing the vaccine being given to thousands of people elsewhere was galling for many Germans.
‼️ Update on assessment of the BioNTech and Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine marketing authorisation application: https://t.co/7UbMtZn8eK
— EU Medicines Agency (@EMA_News) December 15, 2020
On Monday, EMA chief Emer Cooke said that her team was working “around the clock” but added that the vaccine approval timeline is constantly under review, which suggested the date could change - and it has.
Germany has been hitting record numbers of new daily infections and virus deaths in recent weeks. On Tuesday, 4,670 patients were being treated for the disease in German ICUs.
The nation is going into a hard lockdown this Wednesday with schools and most stores shutting down at least until 10 January to stop the exponential rise of Covid-19 cases.
