The European Commission had already defended the bloc against criticism of its slow deployment and said its plans would help the EU to overcome “roadblocks”.
The EU anti-drug agency did not allow the injection of Moderna’s coronavirus on Monday, despite anticipating a special meeting, as criticism of the bloc’s slow implementation of the vaccine grows.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA), based in Amsterdam, said it would resume negotiations on Wednesday to give the green light to what would be the EU’s second vaccine.
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Under pressure from EU countries to accelerate, the regulator had anticipated the meeting in advance to decide on the approval from January 12 to Wednesday, and again until Monday.
Despite launching its vaccination campaign with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 27, the EU’s progress has been much slower than in the United States, Britain or Israel.
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“The EMA committee for discussing human medicines on the Covid-19 (by) Moderna vaccine was not completed today. It will continue on Wednesday, ”said the EMA on Twitter.
“No further communications will be issued today by the EMA.”
The European Commission had already defended the bloc against criticism of its slow deployment and said its plans would help the EU to overcome “roadblocks”.
“It is obvious that such a complex undertaking will always bring difficulties,” spokesman Eric Mamer told reporters.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine – developed in Germany – is the only vaccine currently authorized for use in the European Union since its accelerated authorization by the EMA on December 21.
The United States uses it in conjunction with the Modern vaccine, while Britain has also started using one from the British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
EU countries have lagged far behind. France, for example, delivered the first punch to just over 500 people. Germany has started to immunize 200,000.
The Netherlands, the last in the EU to start its vaccination program, however, said it was anticipating the start of vaccines – by two days until Wednesday.
The European Commission emphasized that it had purchased access to “almost two billion doses” of six potential vaccines – four times the population of the entire European Union.
Moderna’s jab, based in the United States, was found to be 94.1% effective in preventing Covid-19 compared to a placebo in a clinical trial of 30,400 people, performing slightly better in young adults compared to the elderly.
The EMA said last week that the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, which was approved on Wednesday in Britain, is unlikely to get a green light in the EU next month.
The fact that the watchdog moved from London to Amsterdam after Brexit fueled comments about how Britain was able to move faster after leaving the EU.