Emer Cooke, executive director of the EMA, praised the dedication of scientists, doctors and vaccine trial volunteers. It follows the decision by the European Commission to grant the vaccine conditional marketing authorisation yesterday following a recommendation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The first people to be offered the vaccine here will be people aged over 65 in long-term care and frontline health workers. The EMA said the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine trial trial showed it was around 95pc effective in preventing severe illness in people infected with the virus, including those with asthma, chronic lung disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. The EMA has also commissioned its own independent scientific studies to monitor the safety of the vaccine in its real-life application.

Source: Irish Independent December 22, 2020 02:32 UTC