because:
Most European Union countries are waiting for the EMA to grant approval. The EMA has said it will decide by 29 December whether to provisionally authorise the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine. Unlike the UK’s temporary authorisation, the EMA is hoping to grant the vaccine “conditional marketing authorisation” for its use in any EU country.
The Swiss medical regulator Swissmedic has said it did not have all the data it needed to approve the vaccines, especially when it came to use in people with pre-existing illnesses. “We lack data on the effectiveness of the clinical trials and on the important subgroups that participated in these large studies,” said Claus Bolte, head of Swissmedic’s authorisation division, at a press briefing on 1 December.
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