Switzerland has approved the use of the Pfizer and BioNTek laboratory vaccine against Covid-19, the national regulatory body Swissmedic announced today.
"After careful consideration of the available information, Swissmedik has concluded that the vaccine against Kovid-19 from the companies Pfizer and BioNtek is safe and that its benefits outweigh the risks," the statement said.
This is the first vaccine against the coronavirus that has been officially approved in Switzerland.
"We were able to make this decision quickly and at the same time make sure of compliance with three key conditions, safety, efficiency and quality," said the director of Swissmedik, Ramund Bruhin.
Switzerland, which has a population of 8,6 million, secured contracts in advance for 15,8 million doses of vaccines against the corona virus from three different laboratories - three million from Pfizer/BioNTek, 7,5 million doses from the American company Moderne and 5,3 million doses from AstraZeneca.
These vaccines require two doses per patient.
Yesterday, the Swiss government announced new measures in an effort to curb the Kovid-19 epidemic that continues to spread in parts of the country.
Switzerland records more than 4.000 new coronavirus cases and more than a hundred deaths per day.
In total, 400.000 cases and 6.000 deaths have been recorded in the country since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Pfizer and BioNtek vaccine has been approved in the US, UK where vaccinations have already started, as well as in several other countries.
The European Medicines Agency is meeting on December 21 to consider the approval for placing the Pfizer/BioNTek vaccine on the market, with the goal of starting the vaccination campaign in the 27 EU countries already at the end of December.
Bonus video:
