Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Swissmedic fast-tracks second anti-viral vaccine

Packaged products on a conveyor belt at a Pfizer factory
Pfizer reportedly started manufacturing hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 vaccines ahead of expecting approval in the US and elsewhere. Keystone/Dave Weaver

The Swiss therapeutic products agency has begun reviewing another anti-Covid 19 vaccine in the rolling submission procedure.

Swissmedic said the United States pharmaceutical company Pfizer submitted an application for the authorisation of a vaccine which is based on the mRNA technology last week.

The agency added it is fast-tracking all applications connected with the Covid-19 pandemic, assigning extra staff to this task so that content checks and, in particular, user safety are not compromised.

The criteria for reviewing safety, efficacy and quality remain unchanged, according to Claus Bolte, head of Swissmedic’s authorisation division.

“The data packages for the vaccine candidates will be reviewed just as comprehensively, but faster. As a result, we can shorten the waiting times between the development stages during the review,” Bolte said in a statementExternal link published on Monday.

Two weeks ago, the Swiss authorities started assessing an application for a vaccine developed by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

Switzerland has also signed a deal with US biotech firm Moderna to secure early access to 4.5 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

No Swiss bank in phase with environmental objectives

More

Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF

This content was published on None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.

Read more: Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF
UNRWA provides emergency assistance to just over one million Palestine refugees, or about 75 per cent of all Palestine refugees in Gaza, who lack the financial means to cover their basic food.

More

Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

This content was published on The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.

Read more: Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR