News 22/12/2020

EMA will organise a second public meeting on 8 January 2021 to inform European citizens about the assessment, approval and roll-out of new COVID-19 vaccines.

Together with the EU medicines regulatory network, EMA has been working around the clock to bring much needed COVID-19 vaccines to EU citizens as quickly as possible, while keeping the same rigorous standards of approval as for all vaccines.

The first COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, developed by BioNTech and Pfizer has been authorised in the EU on 21 December 2020. An application for a marketing authorisation for another COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Moderna, is currently ongoing and could be concluded at an extraordinary meeting of EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) on 6 January 2021.

The public meeting will be an opportunity to inform citizens about the approval and use of the new vaccines, to explain how the safety of the vaccines will be assured, and to provide information on the role of the European Commission and the national public health authorities on the roll-out of the vaccines. Participants will be also able to share their views, expectations and raise any concerns.

The meeting will be held online and will be open to all citizens. Those interested in participating and asking questions to the panellists should fill in this form no later than 31 December 2020. The meeting will be also broadcast live.

The agenda of the event is available on EMA’s website.