European Commission gives final approval to Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission gave approval on Monday for the use of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by U.S. company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, the final step to allowing Europe to start inoculations within a week.

European Union countries including Germany, Austria and Italy have said they plan to start vaccinations from Dec. 27 as Europe tries to catch up with the United States and Britain where the roll-out began earlier this month.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by David Evans)