Hoax! Covid vaccines will lose approval at the end of the year!

Spread the love

Read Time:2 Minute, 0 Second

Corona vaccine manufacturers are regularly the subject of misinformation. Most recently, for example, claims spread by the thousands on social media that vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna as well as AstraZeneca would soon no longer be allowed to be vaccinated in the EU. The dates mentioned are December 22, 2021, January 6, 2022, and January 29, 2022. Is there any truth in this claim? But this is a hoax. Corona vaccines continue to be used in the EU beyond those dates.

Verification of the claims
All Corona vaccines were approved in the EU via conditional marketing authorization due to the urgent pandemic situation. This approval is valid for one year and must be renewed annually thereafter. The posters most likely refer to the date on which the first-year marketing authorization of the respective vaccines expires.

However, the vaccine manufacturers applied for renewal of the conditional marketing authorization some time ago, and in the meantime it has also been approved by the EU Commission or the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as can be read on the EMA website. The vaccines will therefore continue to be used in the EU in accordance with the regulation.

Extension granted
For the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, for example, under “Annual renewal issued,” the date is Nov. 3, 2021. For the Moderna vaccine, the date is Oct. 4, 2021. AstraZeneca’s vaccine was renewed on November 9, 2021.

On Oct. 5, 2021, the EMA announced on Twitter that the annual renewal of conditional marketing authorizations was a standard process and was on schedule for all Covid 19 vaccines. It also pointed to the renewal of the Moderna vaccine, which had already been granted at that time. With respect to the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, there is currently nothing to suggest that they should not be used in the EU in the future. For example, at the end of August 2021, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that she had ordered 1.8 billion vaccine doses from BioNTech/Pfizer through 2023.

In April 2021, it became known that the EU Commission intends to rely primarily on mRNA technology for vaccination, which includes the two vaccines. Contracts in this regard were also to be valid until 2023. At the beginning of September 2021, AstraZeneca had also committed to supplying vaccine doses to the EU by the first quarter of 2022.