AstraZeneca/Oxford apply for European Union approval of COVID vaccine

Vaccinations in Australia are set to begin in mid-February with the rollout to be accompanied by a public information campaign on the safety of vaccines.

British-Swedish pharmaceutical company along with the Oxford University have applied for a market approval of their COVID-19 vaccine in the EU, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in an announcement on Tuesday.

The Amsterdam-based regulator said that its assessment of the vaccine would "proceed under an accelerated timeline".

The EMA already authorized the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on December 21 and the Moderna vaccine on January 6, for which the European Commission immediately gave the green light.

A conditional marketing authorisation results in a fast-tracked approval during public health emergencies valid throughout all European Union member states.

Earlier, Malapitan said that the city government earmarked a budget of P125 million for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen also welcomed the news on Twitter. "Once the vaccine receives a positive scientific opinion, we will work full speed to authorise its use in Europe".

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was approved for use in the United Kingdom late last month.

AstraZeneca's vaccine has been approved in countries including Argentina, Britain, El Salvador and India.

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine requires two doses for it to be effective.

The update comes a month after both Pfizer and BioNTech, and later Moderna, said the EMA had informed the companies that some evaluation documents had been accessed in the cyberattack on the agency.