EU to fast track approval of modified COVID-19 vaccines to avoid delay, says official

The European Union will fast track the approval and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines that are being made to fight the new emerging variants of the disease. EU's Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, while speaking to a German regional newspaper, said the bloc will fast track the approval of modified COVID-19 vaccines to avert the issues faced during the rollout of existing vaccines. The EU faced criticism for the length of the approval process as the bloc took more time than the United Kingdom and the United States to approve COVID-19 vaccines. 

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"We looked at the process together with the European Medicines Agency. And we have now decided that a vaccine that has been improved by the manufacturer on the basis of the previous vaccine to combat new mutations no longer has to go through the entire approval process. So it will be faster to have suitable vaccines available without compromising on safety," Kyriakides told Augsburger Allgemeine. 

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Vaccine distribution delay in EU

The EU also suffered a major blow to its vaccine rollout programme because of production and distribution delays. EU and pharmaceutical firms locked horns with each other last month because of delays, which the bloc blamed on drug manufacturers, accusing them of diverting the region's share to other nations, including the UK. Vaccine developers, however, dismissed all allegations levelled by the EU and said the delays are being caused due to problems at European production sites. The issue resolved after the EU acknowledged the problem was genuine and vowed to improve its manufacturing and distribution capacity.

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The European Union has administered over 20 million shots among its 450 million people since vaccines received approval in late December. Last week, the European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said that a total of 26 million doses of vaccines have been distributed to European nations so far, adding the bloc plans to vaccinate about 70% of the adult population by the end of summer.  

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