French medical regulator to decide on COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 24

Empty phials are pictured in dry ice in a warehouse which will be used as a logistic hub for COVID-19 vaccine distribution, in the Paris' suburban city of Chanteloup-en-Brie, France December 22, 2020, a day after the European Union gives the green light for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for vaccinations to finally start in the 27-nation bloc on December 27. Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/Pool via REUTERS

French medical regulator HAS said on Tuesday it would decide on Dec. 24 whether to approve the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for France's vaccination rollout, after the European Medicines Agency gave its go-ahead.

The European Union is gearing up for a vaccination campaign of unprecedented scale following regulatory approval for the shot on Monday.

France is planning to start its vaccination programme on Sunday.

Health Minister Olivier Veran said earlier on Tuesday that HAS was set to give approval to COVID-19 vaccines by Dec. 26.

Veran reiterated that as of now, there was no evidence that the new variant of the coronavirus detected in Britain was circulating in France.

(Reporting by Matthieu Protard; Editing by Alison Williams)