The European Commission had earlier defended the bloc against criticism of its slow implementation, saying its plans would let the EU overtake it.
The EU’s drug watchdog on Monday did not approve Moderna’s coronavirus jab, despite holding a special meeting because of criticism of the bloc’s slow vaccination against the bloc.
The Amsterdam European Medicines Agency (EMA) has said it will resume talks on Wednesday on whether to give the green light to the EU’s second vaccine.
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Under pressure from EU countries to expedite, the regulator earlier called the meeting to decide on approval from 12 January to Wednesday, and then again until Monday.
Despite the vaccination of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 27, the EU’s progress was much slower than in the United States, Britain or Israel.
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“The EMA’s committee for human medicine on the Covid-19 vaccine (by) Moderna has not been finalized today. It will continue on Wednesday, “the EMA said on Twitter.
“No further communication will be issued by EMA today.”
The European Commission had earlier defended the bloc against criticism of its slow entry into force, saying its plans would let the EU overtake it.
“It is clear that such a complex effort will always cause problems,” spokesman Eric Mamer told reporters.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine – developed in Germany – is the only one currently approved in the European Union, as it was approved by the EMA on 21 December.
The United States is using it with the Moderna vaccine, while Britain has also started using one of the British pharmaceutical giants, AstraZeneca, from Monday.
EU countries have fallen far behind. France, for example, gave just over 500 people the first time. Germany started immunizing 200,000.
The Netherlands, the last in the EU to launch its vaccination program, has meanwhile said it will produce the start of jabs – with two days until Wednesday.
The European Commission stresses that it has bought access to “almost two billion doses” of six potential vaccines – four times the population of the entire European Union.
The American Moderna jab was found to be 94.1% effective in preventing Covid-19 compared to a placebo in a clinical trial of 30,400 people, which performed slightly better in younger adults compared to the elderly.
The EMA said last week that the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, which was approved in Britain on Wednesday, is unlikely to get the green light in the EU next month.
The fact that the watchdog moved from London to Amsterdam after the Brexit sparked comments about how Britain could move faster after leaving the EU.