Covid-19 vaccinations to start across EU from 27 Dec, Germany says

All European Union member states plan to start vaccinations against Covid-19 from 27 December, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday.

"In Germany we will start, if the approval comes as planned, on 27 December. The other countries in the EU want to be able to start and want to start from 27 December," he said ahead of an online meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and executives from vaccine maker BioNTech.

As a member of the European Union, Germany is obliged, by and large, to wait for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve the vaccine. The EMA is expected to make an announcement on 21 December.

A senior EU official said on Wednesday the bloc could give its final approval for the vaccine, developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, on 23 December.

"The fact that, in this extraordinary global situation, an mRNA vaccine like this is coming to the market so quickly is the result of the wonderful individual achievement of researchers - but also of our approach," Merkel told the online event.

"We believe in science, we support science."