so where this very critical point right now, where the regulators, for instance, the european medicines agency in europe, needs to look at all the data and come to its own conclusions on whether and not and when to authorize these products and to provide these at the ground for these, vaccine candidate with a condition of marketing authorization for the u.s., it's up to the food and drug administration, the f.d.a. . so there they have different procedures and we see when the green light, we come from the e.u. made for the for europe. doesn't it? the zip tool assessments do not necessarily need to be aligned. i would say at this stage, we have on one hand, the procurement procedures ongoing for the procurement of these potential vaccines . but we should let the record do their job. their job is something different than the procurement negotiations for sealing these contracts for these potential vaccines against of it 19. this is a good news indeed. i mean, it is certainly promising news, but there were companies themselves in their own press releases. they were making clear that this is prelimi

lessen the suffering and can help protect people's lives essentially and the e m a so the european medicines agency they are going to have a meeting on the 29th of december on vaccines so this is the date that we're expecting to see the approval for the drug in europe and germany has so far said that it is not going to go it alone unlike the u.k. for example but that it wants to go together with a european agency and bot of course patients is growing thin also here in germany predictably political correspondent nina hasa thank you. well those covered vaccinations that used to begin in the united states on monday following the arrival of millions of doses of a biotech fires a vaccine health care workers and nursing home residents are expected to be amongst the 1st to recipients but with a number of coronavirus deaths in the u.s. approaching 300000 it's too late for many. this is the closest tammie been viet can safely get to her husband has another life hit hard by the pandemic he lies motionless unable to breathe on his own. mind though it is nothing you really want to want to do in my book or a wi

stuyvesant is joining us now from amsterdam standing right outside the european medicines agency where we expect the agency to give europe the green light to start inoculation soon because you're a very worried about the new strain staff. absolutely and they actually just did get a green light just a few minutes ago the european medicine agency that's holding a presser here in this building announced that they have conditionally authorized the use of the biotech 5 vaccine for the whole of europe the european union for 450000000 people who have been eagerly waiting for this approval after the u.k. the u.s. and canada and other countries started vaccinating already so now all these hundreds of millions of people who have been waiting they can they can be vaccinated very soon now because this approval was needed for the european union 2 days from now if this approval as well authorization to be used in 27 member states and countries like germany and france have announced that they will start as soon as next sunday already or the contras like the netherlands have to infrastructure not in o

he's also a board member of the european medicines agency, which is dealing with modernise request for us. and let's have a look now at other developments in the penn demick. turkey has tightened its restrictions announcing a curfew on weekdays and full lock downs over the weekend. it's world health organization has urged countries not to politicize the hunt for the origins of covert, 19 saying that would create boundaries to learning the truth. vietnam has reported its 1st locally transmitted case in 3 months. authorities have introduced temporary knocked out, and brazil, south bound states has imposed stricter social distancing measures after warning from the oh, about very worrying case numbers. just as they are coronavirus can mean no symptoms for some people i.c.u. and death for others. its impact on the economy has also been very mixed. here in europe, spain is considered the member hardest hit before the pandemic. spanish g.d.p. was growing at almost 3 percent, much better than its neighbors. but in the 1st 2 quarters of this year when travel and tourism, the lifeblood of spain,

fines or for use in europe it will be the 1st covert 19 vaccine to be authorized by the european medicines agency and amsterdam the shot has already been given the go ahead under emergency provisions by officials in britain and the united states scientists at the mayo are expected to conclude that the vaccine is safe the european commission must still rubber stamp the decision before the inauguration can be rolled out across the 27 e.u. member states. let's cross straight to mark sunday to get the view from brussels max welcome we're expecting the approval of the biotech pfizer vaccine from the a today we've been waiting a long time for that approval haven't we. well that's right we call it did really feel like an eternity in a way but in actuality have a close look at it this is quite an impressive achievement or only just not even a year after the start of the pandemic 1st take europe and now is the big day in the e.m.a.'s hopefully finally give the give their green light on the pfizer vaccine later today they have been assessing reviewing the vaccine for the past couple weeks having a look at

in just 11 weeks when we would usually expect to spend a year or more in its report the european medicines agency said the vaccine was safe and effective officials added there was no reason to suggest it would not be equally effective against current you strains of the virus. now the job can be delivered to vaccine centers already set up throughout europe to begin the massive task of immunizing millions of europeans across the e.u. student medics were tired doctors pharmacists and soldiers are being drafted in for a vaccination drive of unprecedented scale. but the big question is how willing are europeans to be vaccinated on the streets of berlin most say they're in favor but many have hesitations. well i would lose a hand to take it it's just finished the current i think it's a problem because. we need it it's important at the moment yeah i finish and i don't know i'm thinking about it but it causes an allergic reaction and i have allergies and i have asthma i don't know if i see one vaccine as some everybody try before me i don't want to be the 1st to try. the medicines agency says the vaccine

on monday the european medicine agency gave the go ahead for the pfizer biotech vaccine to be administered in each country is. visiting a coronavirus vaccination center in berlin germany president. said he was optimistic about the upcoming rollout of the vaccine. because in we are in a difficult situation if we look at the infection rate of the. sun but today is also a day of holes and talked. with vaccinations about to start the light at the end of the tunnel is. it's getting a little brighter. that. germany has set up dozens of vaccination centers across the country it plans to begin administering the jab on the summer 27th starting with residents in care homes. take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world england has found 2 men guilty of killing 39 men women and children from vietnam suffocated in a sealed truck near london the driver and another man were convicted of manslaughter the deaths 2 years ago exposed an illicit trade in people smuggling. a 28 year old right wing extremist has been jailed for life for one of germany's worst anti semitic attacks s

step vasant joins me now from amsterdam where the european medicines agency is counting meeting to discuss vaccine approvals step i guess the big question that everyone wants to know the answer to is when at when will the e.u. see a vaccine actually being rolled out. exactly in around 3 hours from now we will find out we hope to hear the approval by the european medicine agency that happening in meeting here 8 days earlier than initially well supplants because of the pressure coming from germany and other european countries hundreds of millions of europeans are eagerly waiting for this vaccine while europe is going through this very serious. kum to weight off infections there has been this delay because u.k. of course and the u.s. and canada and other countries have been vaccinated already with this by intact fly so in fact sea but the european agency said we are doing a more thorough really and we are basing our decision on more effort and so if we have a good decision it's legally biting it's a thorough decision you can be sure that effect is safe and i have to say this because a lot of

political correspondent hans brandt welcome hans so we now know the european medicines agency will hold its meeting on the 21st of december rather than the 29th is this because of german pressure. i imagine it is yes the german health minister has been saying in the last couple of days repeatedly that he would wish for an approval of this vaccine somewhat more quickly so that the vaccinations could start this year already has been a lot of political pressure here in germany from various political parties as well and from organizations such as. those of the emergency hospitals themselves who have all been saying that the vaccine really is necessary it's really urgently needed in a whole lot of different situations at the same time one has to say that this is. the health minister has repeated again today that germany is not pushing for an emergency approval of this vaccine which has been the case in the united states and the united kingdom it once a regular approval of such a vaccine so that people who want to use it who want to be vaccinated can be certain that every step has been taken

the european medicines agency is the body that approves these vaccines.s process is quite different to the u.k.'s, but this will,e w think, come to fruition on december 21. we will have to see what hpens there. there's much more information on the situation of the vcines. let's hear more from the bbc's health reporter. >> we do think this authorization process will gather pace. the organization which regulates it said this week thait's meeting from december 29 two december 21, next monday -- december 29 to december 21, next monday. they will give the vaccination to people. that process will be sped up. ros: let's turn to nigeria, asav wedone all week, because the north of the country are now having to close, all connected to hundreds of students being captured from a boarding school, with boko har claiming responsibility. happened.students were at at least 333 are still missing. we are told discussions betwee the government and the kidnappers are happening. we have the latest. >> the governor told us thathe parents of one of the children was contacted onc

the european medicine agency has brought forward a meeting at which it is expected to improve the vaccine developed by biontech and pfizer. >> there's always a surge of people at christmas time hunting for last-minute gifts. this time, it has come earlier than usual in germany. wednesday, stores will close as they enter a tough lockdown. even if not everyone finds where they are looking for, a welcome christmas present may be coming soon. germans are waiting for the first coronavirus vaccine to be approved. so far, not even the health minister knows when that will happen. >> our national authorities are supporting the european authorities to their best ability. the goal is to secure approval before christmas. >> germans have watched vaccines rolled out in the u.k. and the u.s., but the decision here is to wait until a drug is approved by the european medicines agency. it was not until the end of the year. the signs are it will now come next week. >> if it gets approved by the 23rd of december, together with the producer, we will try and allow for a rapid delivery to the federal states. th

vaccine is currently available so it's been seen that type of talk as putting pressure on the european medicines agency germany is waiting with other you e.u. countries to hear from the european medicines agency whether they approve that vaccine they in turn have said that they're going to complete an approvals process by the 29th of december for some people that will be a bit to late but of course it's also important that people have confidence in any approvals process and from that point of view this type of pressure from politicians may be counterproductive. political correspondent simon young thank you must talk about what's going on in the u.s. than a major milestone in the battle against of a corona virus pandemic is happening there it's the largest vaccination campaign in u.s. history and it's begun a nurse from the intensive care unit at the long island jewish medical center that's become the 1st person to receive a battery in the u.s. health care workers a nursing staff a nursing home residents are 1st in line to get those this coffee vaccinations will not be carried out across the u.s. along

so with a european public health alliance, and as a member or a board member of the european medicines agency, aid, which is dealing with modernise requests for authorization, he has his assessment seen in recent weeks. a lot of these press releases from several pharmaceutical companies. we've seen candidates, but pharmaceutical companies press release is not necessarily science. it can be marketing but is not science. so where this very critical point right now, where the regulators, for instance, the european medicines agency in europe, needs to look at all that they've got up and come to its own conclusions on whether and not and when to authorize these projects and to provide the basis of the grounds of these vaccine candidate with, a condition of marketing authorization for the u.s., it's up to the food and drug administration, the f.d.a. . so there they have different procedures and we will see when the green light we come from, the e.u. made for the for europe doesn't have the zip to hold assessments do not necessarily need to be aligned. i would say this stage we have on one hand, the

we are not trying to beat the european medicine agency.e in australia can afford to do it more slowly. they don't have the same level of public emergency as we do. with the regulators around the world talk to each other and they are aware of these things. but it is important that the key things are that the efficacy is sufficiently good, it is much better than we anticipated. we have studied enough people to rule out serious effects that occur commonly. and by commonly, i mean more frequently than one in 5000. that is common for effective vaccines. we won't know about the really rare in effects until we have put it in years. and we will be minor team for those more carefully tha n we will be minor team for those more carefully than we've ever done before. —— moderating for those without dr evans, thank you very much. for the us, a vaccine couldn't be here soon enough because all the data is trending the wrong way. not since the spring, during the pandemic‘s first peak, have so many deaths been reported — there were over 2,800 deaths on wed

but the decision here is to wait until a drug is approved by the european medicines agency that approval was originally not gee before the end of the year now the signs are it will come next week. so. if it gets approved by the 23rd of december then together with the producer we will try and allow for a rapid delivery to the federal states and the federal states can then deliver it to their vaccination centers i'm expecting vaccinations to start $2.00 to $4.00 days afterwards at the latest. start. mass immunization centers are currently being equipped millions of doses of vaccine are on order those with heightened risk of infection will be invited 1st the elderly as well as health care workers but the question of priority is controversial. many people wanted as quickly as possible but that isn't enough at least in the beginning so that's why we need clear and transparent priorities the vaccine is being kept under kit and lock and it's very highly protected the vaccine these coming to germany but unlike with father christmas himself nobody can be sure when to expect it. so let's take this

vaccine later on monday as infections continue to climb rapidly in parts of the continent the european medicines agency is meeting to discuss the approvals in amsterdam stuff awesome is there. we hope to hear the approval by the european medicines agency they're having in meeting here a days earlier that initially was the plans because of the pressure coming from germany and other european countries hundreds of millions of europeans are eagerly waiting what is vaccine while you're going through this very serious 2nd wave off infractions the husband is the lady because the u.k. of course and the u.s. and canada and other countries have been vaccinated already with this so by impacts why so sexy but the european agency said we are doing it more so really we are basing our decision on more evidence so if we think the decision is legally binding it's a thorough decision you can be sure that the fact is safe and they have to say this because a lot of people here in europe especially also in the netherlands a very reluctant to be vaccinated are very worried about their safety procedures they are worried abou

this decision from brussels the european medicines agency was expected. why is it so given that so what's the thinking behind germany waiting another 6 days before starting to vaccinate. well the decision today is very important that our countries are preparing and certainly to get ready to have to vaccine and then to distribute the vaccine so there's a big organizational background the holidays are just ahead of us a few more days certainly to organize things are necessary so i'm very happy to see that we get the decision today and i'm looking forward to have the vaccine in germany and the other european countries available so if we do. start inside the next week how long do you think before the infection rates start forming . because of the vaccine that will take some time because we need to big scene a lot of people in germany 1516000000 people and that will take certainly a lot of time is so we expect if we fast end of summer in the fall maybe but it could also take more time than that ok so if it's so if we're looking towards the back end of next yea

meanwhile the european medicines agency have given the green light to the current virus vaccine developed by pfizer and biotech the decision comes weeks after the shot was 1st authorized in britain and the us we know a lot more about this disease now than we knew 10 months ago even more than we knew that 3 months ago but we're still there is still new information coming in and this needs to be fully assess back seeing alone will not be the silver bullet that will allow us to return to normal life but the authorization of this 1st vaccine is definitely a major step in the right direction and an indication that 2021 can be brighter than 2020 starbucks and he's covering this for us from the european medicines agency announced at our. there was a lot of pressure for at least 450000000 people here in the european union to get this vaccine as soon as possible but despite the pressure on this by the fact that they actually moved this meeting 8 days forward on the pressure from germany they sat the whole the station was based on science there was no political consideration that's why all the 27 m

the european medicines agency says the jab has demonstrated an efficacy of 95%, and can be used in peoplerter, mark lobel came into the studio to give more details, starting with the timing of the announcement. despite the fact that britain, america and canada had approved the pfizer—biontech vaccine earlier this month, the european medicines agency is instructed by the eu to look at approving their vaccines for them, took a much more careful approach, looking at more evidence, putting in more checks as they thought it was more appropriate for a max vaccination campaign for its 446 million people, vaccination campaign for its mig million people, so they didn't go down the emergency route that america and britain did but went down the route similarto did but went down the route similar to switzerland with more checks was not however, the tipping point came when eu leaders told them to hurry up. they saw 300,000 europeans dying and saw what was going on elsewhere and so this resulted in the ema coming out eight days soon up with their decision which they say was after 40,000 clinical trials

i'd like to get your opinion here in europe there is the perception that the european union medicines agency has simply been too slow to approve the 1st vaccine as an immunization we have close to 3000 americans dying every day so every day counts in the lives of the people who are affected by the sirens so we felt that although we did not cut corners on safety that we had enough information to be going on with that we had to look carefully at the data available from pfizer environment with the early results and we're confident that the results tell us that it is safe to proceed we have to acknowledge though there are still uncertainties about how long this vaccine will work and if there are any rare or late term side effects we don't yet know about that right now all signals are go and we simply can't wait too many lives are being lost every day you know but we've got our fingers crossed that things will work as planned moving forward dr kelly more associate professor of health policy at vanderbilt university medical center dr moore we appreciate your time tonight employer to send our merry

would be able to start vaccinating people by the end of this year he's been calling all the european medicines agency to speed up their approval of the pfizer biotech vaccine now that is going to happen it's being brought forward to december the 21st that has prompted a tweet spike to sort of underlying the president of the european commission based here in brussels she said likely but the 1st europeans will be vaccinated before ends 2020 this is offering a lot of hope for people in countries across the continent who have seen other countries such as the u.k. start to roll out their must vaccination. programs germany says that it's ready to vaccinate up to 4000000 people before the end of this year alone and then they're saying that by the next the end of summer 2021 they hope 60 percent of the population can have had the vaccine that's the crucial figure according to the world health organization at which you can really start to bring the pandemic under control and a dame this is all happening as a number of other countries across the continent and staring down the barrel of father lockdowns here. o

that's been developed by a company called done which will be january the 12th before the european medicines agency which has the responsibility for approving such things here across the european union will will consider approving the modena vaccine so the there are you know issues about the timetabling of vaccines and when places like belgium. germany france italy was evolving badly hits will also get it. the u.s. has experienced this worst week of a coronavirus pandemic since april 15th 1000 americans have died from covert 19 in the past 7 days much of the recent surge has been attributed to people gathering for thanksgiving celebrations and there are warnings that all will rise as more people travel for the end of year holiday season. a member of up with derby is royal family has voted 50 percent stake in an israeli football club beats our jerusalem should come had been. has also committed to invest more than $92000000.00 in the club over the next decades as despite being the only top club in israel never to have signed a palestinian israeli player they also have a group of fans known as la fami

political correspondent hans browne to welcome hans so the european medicines agency originally was due to meet on the 29th we had the german health minister there asking for the 23rd and it's actually the 21st how much is that date change due to german pressure. we can say for sure about that are seem to have been quite a big amount of german pressure involved in the background here this whole all of this happened literally while the german health minister to today was speaking to the public or speaking to the press a number of media reports started appearing that so the day it was to be changed the health minister said he wasn't quite sure about those have no independent information for those and then while the press conference was going on today it was in fact confirmed and later even moved forward by 2 by 2 extra days as you say so there seems to have been german pressure involved certainly but it's in fact the whole of the european union all 27 or 26 other countries who are waiting for this decision with bated breath so why has it taken the europeans a so long to get to this point

that the european medicines agency announced a dominick's planes what happens next there was a lot of pressure for 450000000 people here in the european union to get this vaccine as soon as possible but this by the pressure on this by the fact that they actually moved this meeting 8th forward under pressure from germany they're sad to tell you to downing street where the british prime minister is to address the nation about krone virus on the new mutant strain which is what's been happening at our borders and especially dave last night at 11 pm the french government imposed restrictions only u.k. freight crossing to france with accompanied by a driver and so today i chaired a meeting of the government's emergency cobra committee in order to coordinate a u.k. wide response and it's vital 1st to stress these delays which are only occurring at dover only affect human handled freight and that is only 20 percent of the total arriving or departing arriving from or departing to the european continent which means the vast majority of food medicines and other supplies are coming and going as n

have given this emergency also rise ation and the the next weeks short the next weeks the european medicines agency which is now after breaks it based in amsterdam is to check and recheck and cross check all the data that have been given by pfizer throughout the last 2 weeks and they say they will give authorization probably right after christmas maybe some experts say they can be a big quicker and do it before christmas but the difference here is do you trust buy on tech and pfizer enough to say ok we just look at your data and we say go or do you say ok we put our experts to it and we just recheck everything before we say go we know that they are those conspiracy theorists and vets in deniers throughout europe and if you sort of give this very quick also rise ation they might just be jumping on it and say look the authorities are not doing their best so the european union is determined to sort of go the regular way and just give it a couple more weeks until the huge production rollout here can begin for the whole european union which probably is also fines isabelle's in science where the vaccine

health emergency the scientific evaluation carried out after phase 3 trials by the e m a the european medicines agency it takes time developers 1st have to submit testing data and what's called a marketing authorization application that governs general approvals for medicinal products throughout the e.u. a board at the agency called the committee for medicinal products for human use is required to submit a scientific verdict on the application within $210.00 days it then passes that opinion on to the european commission which makes a decision on whether or not to grant an approval within $67.00 more days so all in all the process can take between 9 and 10 months. but that's under ordinary circumstances in the midst of this pandemic the e m a has set up a special task force to help fast track covert 19 treatments and therapies it allows for accelerated action in a number of ways for vaccines a key change is that developers don't have to wait until all of their data is final before submitting it for approval but have been able to submit it instead in batches while the trials are still ongoing a process

people in the you're opinion saying why is the you not making a decision on this why the european medicines agency not going to meet to discuss this alley or they're planning on meeting at the end of december and so this will probably increase pressure on european regulators to meet and maybe trying to reach a decision the u.s. is planning on meeting us regulates upon meeting next week to discuss the results and whether they'll give approval to the drug and so. be very. unsurprising i wouldn't be surprised if donald trump starts the pressure and even more pressure on the regulation is there to try to to reach a decision he will want nice to be part of his legacy he's trying to take credit he's taking credit for what speed operation watch people just kind of really put accelerators on reaching getting a vaccine ready and he obviously wants this to kind of maybe be something his final weeks in office. matthew move to the real business thank you. let's take a look at the latest developments in this pandemic will start in germany where the country's public health institute has reported a record $487.0

have family fired an epic asian for conditional market marketing offer rise ation with a european medicines agency with e m a. buy on tech would be even a marketing offer arise ation holder fava e.u. u.k. and the us and various other countries a lot esteemed part not 5 with do of the marketing of a marketing and of a distribution in these and various other countries. let me briefly show you a high level overview about johnny and the last couple of months we called our development program for a covert 19 vaccine project light speech because you can't go faster than light and this was what we aimed for the steer any started in january vess year and was devoted to vote development of in very top rated and effective covert 1000 vaccine following the highest scientific and ethical standards this was a journey of 111211 months which started with engineering my to peer potential candidates fixing candidates of which several entered clinical testing phase one in a previous year in july we selected to cover with our partner fires are one of those candidates the most promising one for phase 3 trial and in n

a much needed sort of glimmer of hope at christmas time the expectation now is that the europeans medicines agency will approve the biotech pfizer vaccine at the beginning of next week it will then be delivered to germany and germany's medicines agency can check the doses to see that they are ok and meet the standards and after that it will be distributed to $400.00 vaccination centers around the country and vaccinations can start we believe on the 27th of december and there's been a full debate as well about the prioritization with the over a t's and people in care homes and also care workers getting the vaccine 1st and it's estimated it's going to take a couple of months to give the vaccine to all of that group some of the right is the glimmer of hope do we know how long it will take to vaccinate enough people to return to even a semblance of normality here. well the government says that in order to get herd immunity in other words to have have enough people vaccinated that we can stop worrying will begin to start worrying about covert 19 that will require 60 to 70 percent of the population to b

the european medicine agency is launching an investigation alongside law enforcement. the attack is not expected to have any affect on the timing of the vaccine review. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and at bloomberg @quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am leigh-ann gerrans. this is bloomberg. francine? francine: leigh-ann, thank you so much. now, facebook has been sued by u.s. antitrust officials and a coalition of states, claiming that they plan to illegally crush opposition by acquisition of instagram and whatsapp. matt with bloomberg intelligence joins us. matt, what exactly are the regulators after? francine, the difference as there are a lot of different regulators, and they are all looking for something from facebook in the tech firms. they are looking to create something in the market for the next wave of new entrants to come and challenge the domination of facebook, amazon, google, for the marketplace, and if they do not do something, it is really an opportunity, so they do not see a lot of other are

biotech coronavirus vaccine after it was given the green light by regulators approval from the european medicines agency follows similar moves by both britain and the us countries including germany austria and italy say they'll begin mass vaccinations as soon as sunday millions of americans could start receiving pandemic relief payments from the beginning of next week congressional leaders have approved a 900000000000 dollar stimulus package to help businesses and families it's expected to be voted on by the house of representatives later. on the remaining parties to the iran nuclear deal say they're preparing for the u.s. to rejoin them under president elect joe biden the deal to lift sanctions in exchange for limits to iran's nuclear program unraveled in 2018 after donald trump withdrew biden has said he will rejoin if iran resumes strict compliance remaining powers are committed to work towards full implementation of the agreement this is a top stories do stay with us the father the son and the jihad is coming up next i'll see you with more news after that. i had enough of my stuff a mess you know by

bound tac have submitted their covered 19 vaccine to the european union for approval the european medicines agency says the vaccine could be approved for use in europe within weeks if the data in the application is sufficient new zealand has declared a climate emergency in plans to carbon neutral government by 20255 minutes it is in the odd didn't told parliament that an action is needed for the sake of future generations the country joins 32 others who have issued emergency declarations over the global climate crisis. now to hong kong where of course is due to sentence 3 pro-democracy activists after they pleaded guilty to charges related to last year's anti-government protests of most problems most of which joshua wall a just $24.00 he's been one of the main actors in the opposition for many years. hong kong $24.00 team the umbrella movement takes to the streets for months of protests spurred by a government plan to prescreen candidates for local elections joshua won was front and center. everybody here has to stay alert but this demonstration has been peaceful and the police haven't bothered us

i'd like to get your opinion here in europe there is the perception that the european union medicines agency has simply been too slow to approve the 1st vaccine as an immunization expert how important is time and perception in a pandemic. well in the united states we have close to 3000 americans dying every day so every day counts in the lives of the people who are affected by this virus so we felt that although we did not cut corners on safety that we had enough information to be going on with that we had looked carefully at the data available from pfizer in violent attacks with the early results and we're confident that the results tell us that it is safe to proceed we have to acknowledge though there are still uncertainties about how long this vaccine will work and if there are any rare or late term side effects we don't yet know about that right now all signals are go and we simply can't afford to wait too many lives are being lost every day you know what we've got our fingers crossed that things will work as planned moving forward dr kelly more associate professor of health policy at va

i'd like to get your opinion here in europe there is the perception that the european union medicines agency has simply been too slow to approve the 1st vaccine as an immunization expert how important is time and perception in a pandemic. well in the united states we have close to 3000 americans dying every day so every day counts in the lives of the people who are affected by this virus so we felt that although we did not cut corners on safety that we had enough information to be going on with that we had looked carefully at the data available from pfizer in violent attacks with the early results and we're confident that the results tell us that it is safe to proceed we have to acknowledge though there are still uncertainties about how long this vaccine will work and if there are any rare or late term side effects we don't yet know about that right now all signals are go and we simply can't afford to wait too many lives are being lost every day yet but we've got our fingers crossed that things will work as planned moving forward dr kelly moore associate professor of health policy at vanderb

the european medicines agency says that it could approve the vaccine for use in europe within weeks if the data in the application is sufficient . deforestation in brazil's amazon rain forest has surged to its highest level in 12 years, according to official figures. the national research agency says destruction has risen sharply under president gyre bill sonando this year alone, an area of 7 times the size of london has been stripped, bare. a landmark paris bookstore is calling for crisis help. shakespeare and company is a magnet for tourist and parisian xah, like the shops turnover, has fallen by 80 percent since the pandemic began. but orders have flooded in since staff alerted social media to its pli. so that is good news. are to peru where authorities have had to impose tight restrictions on public life to curb the spread of the coronavirus. while that may have saved untold numbers of lives, it has been a disaster for businesses in many of their employees to vent their anger. thousands of peruvians took to the streets, raising fears that the protests could in turn, calls a further

the health minister of this country came out yesterday on sunday and he tweeted, look, the european medicines agencys all the data from pfizer and biontech. they could make this decision. the u.s. and uk have given this vaccine authorization. he says quite frankly the european medicines agency needs to approve the vaccine or give it some sort of authorization as fast as possible. he said that the credit skpblt the ability of the european union to act in the face of the population here in your opinion, that that was something that was at stake. he said that was something that's extremely pressing. the germans have been putting in place a lot of vaccine centers. they've been building them up. these vaccine centers are ready. they're finished. everyone is standing at the ready. all they need now is approval. germans saying that should come as fast as possible, kim. >> thank you so much. >>> in london, things seem to be getting worse. what's the latest there? >> absolutely, kim. there's another surge in cases and with the surge comes the controversy about what to do with it. you mentioned the mass testi

. >> the european medicines agency assessed this vaccine thoroughly. and it concluded that it is safe and effective against covid-19. based on this scientific assessment, we proceeded to authorize it for that european union market. >> france 24's dave keating has been keeping an eye on proceedings and brussels. earlier we asked why had taken the eu so long to approve a vaccine already being circulated in other countries? >> the organization has been under significant pressure from eu governments because they could see vaccine rollouts in the u.k. and the u.s. and canada. the distinction is that the ema wanted to wait for this conditional approval. what the u.k. did was that number. any eu country could have got had with an emergency approval before the em took the decisiona -- before the ema took the decision. but doing an emergent does leave the government open if something goes wrong. so theema wanted to get the full conditional approval here to make sure it evaluated everything. extrthree weeks betweens en the u. gavan emergen approval andhe ema giv

reporter: monday, the european medicines agency gave the go-ahead for the pfizer-biontech axing to bedministered -- va ccine -- vaccine to be administered in european countries. the president was optimistic about the up coming rollout of the vaccine. >> we are in a difficult situation, if we look at the infection rate. but today is also a day of hope. with vaccinations about to start, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting a little brighter. reporter: germany has set up dozens of vaccination centers across the country. it plans to begin administering them on december 27th, starting with residence in care homes. phil: speaking of which, spanish health authorities are accused of effectively abandoning residents of care homes during the covid-19 pandemic. one of the most serious allegations in the report is that lots of people and facilities for the elderly have been denied access to hospital care. philip schultz reports. reporter: there's just time for a coffee before he has to go back to his care home. now at least the 81-year-old can leave e home for a short while and when the

the documents were hacked from the european medicines agency, the eu's drugs regulator, based in amsterdamit's in charge of approving covid-19 vaccines in the region. the agency confirmed on its website on wednesday it had been the target of a cyber attack. pfizer and biontech jointly said in a statement they had been notified of the cyber attack. they added their own systems had not been breached and company not believe study participants had been identified. the ema is working to approve the pfizer-biontech vaccine for the states by the end of the year. the cyber attack is not expected to impact the timeline. according to data by johns hopkins university in the united states, the global tally for confirmed coronavirus cases has surged to over 68 million. the global death toll has topped 1.5 million. >>> south korea's chief prosecutor is facing a disciplinary committee. the focus is on whether he acted improperly during past investigations. but the details remain unclear, leading some to speculate the case may be politically motivated. thursday's meeting is being held behind closed doors.

is currently available so it's been seen that type of talk at as putting pressure on the european medicines agency germany is waiting with other you e.u. countries to hear from the european medicines agency whether they approve that vaccine they in turn have said that they're going to complete an approvals process by the 29th of december for some people that will be a bit late but of course it's also important that people have confidence in any approvals process and from that point of view the type of pressure from politicians maybe is counterproductive doubly political correspondent simon young thank you for the largest fascination campaign in u.s. history has now begun sandra lindsay an intensive care nurse a long hard and jewish medical center in new york state has become the 1st person in the u.s. to receive the coverage 90 battery health care workers and residents of nursing homes are 1st in line to get treated shipments of the pfizer bomb tech proxy have been arriving at hospitals around the country. let's get more from d.w. washington bureau chief in a spa welcome back interest so we have a

. >> [speaking french] >> the european medicines agency announced that amsterdam is assessing vaccines by pfizer and moderna. monte: to the u.s. where cases of the coronavirus and deaths are spiraling out of control. the death toll reached 3100 people in just the last 24 hours. that cshes a record set in april. there is no sign of a letter. the head of the centers for disease control once that january and february would be the most difficult time in public health history of the nation. our correspondent has more from washington. >> these experts are saying that the records that we saw on wednesday, the daily deaths, the cases, the number of people currently in hospital right now, it is about 100,000 people. these records will likely -- very likely be beaten in the coming days. we might be seeing these numbers over and over again in the next couple of months. they are saying watch out, there is hope with the vaccine but don't let your guard down. things will get worse before they start getting better. this is true across the united states. you're seeing states really starting to dial ba

give the great mind to roll out the vaccine when the european medicines agency says that i'll need to have another meeting. every country in europe could have there is a certain legal loophole with in the rules in the european union that still apply in britain to till the end of this year that says if a country feels it is being overwhelmed by an epidemic they can give an emergency authorization for innumerous and for a new drug or for a new vaccine hungary has done that for instance a couple days ago they approved under this rule they approved the russian vax and that's coach nick nobody has checked it in europe nobody knows what it really does and they said we decide to rely on the russian science it's their decision basically however the overall rule is that in europe everybody says safety 1st we will sort of trust in the scientists off the saddam the regulatory authority they have really could have acted to group of the best scientists in europe who had no poring over those tests and checking and cross-checking everything and then towards the end of this month they would say ok le

are asking when it will be their turn under pressure to move quickly the european medicines agency has moved up a meeting at which it's expected to approve the vaccine developed by bio on tech and pfizer now that decision could come as soon as. on day meanwhile germany has started a harder lockdown with schools and non-essential businesses to remain closed through january 10th but the restrictions coming into effect on wednesday sent last minute shoppers scrambling to buy presents in time for the holidays. there's always a surge of people at christmas time hunting for last minute gifts but this year the crush has come earlier than usual in germany. shoppers rushed to make last minute purchases ahead of the country's tough lockdown but people seem pretty stressed about the whole thing you can feel it up but we're finished we got to done some of these one time for health reasons all i can say is that it's the right thing to do we can't wait until it all falls to pieces. but while some may not find what they're looking for a welcome christmas present may be coming soon germany is waiting

but as with all eu countries, italy can only begin the program once the european medicines agency approves vaccine. until that happens, we cannot be sure. next, to sweden. the king says the country has failed in its effort to deal with the pandemic. since the start of this, sweden has attracted a huge amount of attention because it did not introduce a mandatory lockdown or mask mandate. instead, it relied on people to voluntarily social distance. in recent week the number of cases and deaths has risen sharply, calling for a change of course from the government. sweden's king barely gets into the news. it is even less common for him to say something controversial. here is what we know. >> i think we have failed. a large number of people have died. it's awful. it's something we all suffer from. we have not been able to help them and it is sad, terribly sad. host: sweden's death rate is lower than some other countries in europe that instituted lockdowns. it's lower than italy, lower than the u.k., but those countries have much bigger populations. if you compared to countries with similar size

the european commission has now approved the use of the biotech finds or corona virus vaccine after its medicines agency recommended authorisation vaccines are slated to begin in most european countries this weekend the shot is already in use in britain canada and the united states. trucks arriving in the parting from a pfizer factory in belgium the drivers were probably there to collect the company's codes of 19 vaccine and they're bound to be under pressure to deliver. so too with a used drug regulators the pfizer vaccine was authorized in britain and the united states weeks ago and calls have been growing for the use medicine watchdog to allowance but the organization defended the time it took saying it had refused to compromise public safety. and the agency's commitment our experts have worked tirelessly to reach a robust science based consensus from the switch from the start of the rolling review on to the final c hey compete today has been achieved in just 11 weeks when we would usually expect to spend a year or more in its report the european medicines agency said the vaccine was safe and effecti

welcome to the program the european commission has now approved the use of the biotech pfizer coronavirus vaccine after its medicines agency recommended authorization the nations are slated to begin in most european countries this weekend the shot is already in use in britain canada and the united states. trucks arriving in departing from a pfizer factory in belgium the drivers were probably dead to collect the company's codes of 19 vaccine and have bound to be under pressure to deliver. so too with a used drug regulators the pfizer vaccine was authorized in britain and the united states weeks ago and calls have been growing for the use medicine watchdog to allow it but the olgas ation defended the time it took saying it had refused to compromise public safety. and the agency's commitment our experts have worked tirelessly to reach a robust science based consensus from the switch from the start of the rolling review on to the final c hey compete today has been achieved in just 11 weeks when we would usually expect to spend a year or more in its report the european medicines agency said the vaccine was safe and effective of

biotech have submitted their covert 1000 vaccine to the european union for approval the european medicines agency said it could approve the vaccine for use in europe within weeks if the data in the application is sufficient. to prove not where it is have had to impose tight restrictions on public life to curb the spread spread of the coronavirus well that may have saved untold numbers of lives it has been disaster for businesses and many of the employees to vent their anger sounds of peruvians took to the streets raising fears that the protests could in turn cause a for the spike in infections. paolo mccaslin of a news won't touch it means cupcakes company was very popular in the capital. but the business was not considered essential when the lockdown which is devastated the peruvian economy began polow move was among those who had to shut up shop. the pandemic began when we were growing as were many other businesses in peru it surprised us we figured we were going to close for a while but we had to shut for 76 days. it is affected all aspects of the business very deeply. the harsh measures broug