Ready, set, go ! The Covid vaccination campaign is due to start on December 27, in France and throughout the European Union. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has just given a favorable opinion on the vaccine developed by the American Pfizer and the German BioNTech.

In France, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health congratulated each other on Twitter:

Vaccination will start in the 27 EU countries on December 27, 28 and 29.
To all the skeptics, to all those who doubted it, Europe has shown that it is much more than a big market: a community of destiny.
This is its singularity, and it is our strength in the face of the crisis. https://t.co/iKiEYeWnSM

– Jean Castex (@JeanCASTEX) December 21, 2020

The European Medicines Agency has just authorized the Pfizer vaccine. This week should intervene the opinion of the European Commission, the High Authority of Health, and the first deliveries.
Start of the French and European vaccination campaign on Sunday!

– Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) December 21, 2020

Read also: Covid: 17 million French people could be vaccinated by June

Launch “at the end of this week”

“It will be a very gradual start”, specified the Minister of Health Olivier Véran previously on Europe 1. “We are not rushing (…) it is a vaccination which takes the time to ensure that the conditions are united so that confidence is there, “he insisted.

“We will be able to launch the vaccination campaign in France with European coordination at the end of this week,” said government spokesman Gabriel Attal, leaving the Council of Ministers. “This will start in particular with retirement homes,” he detailed.

The French strategy plans to vaccinate as a priority the elderly in nursing homes and the workers of these residences presenting risk factors, that is to say approximately 1 million people. The establishment where the first vaccinations will take place “has not yet been stopped,” the Ministry of Health told AFP.

Also read: “A return to normal at the end of 2021” thanks to vaccines, according to Professor Fontanet

Authorizations remain to be granted

After the marketing authorization, which the European Commission should now grant immediately, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen indicated on December 17 that the vaccination against Covid-19 would begin from the 27 ” across the European Union “.

But uncertainty remained regarding the kickoff in France. In fact, the HAS has yet to give its opinion, a necessary step before the first vaccinations. This notice will be given “either on December 23 or 24”, the ministry told AFP.

Also requested, the National Consultative Ethics Council (CCNE) issued its opinion on December 21. In particular, it calls for “to be vigilant in the process of collecting consent for vaccination from vulnerable people”, to “take into account the diversity of points of view on vaccination” and “to constantly review” the decisions taken “. in view of new knowledge “.