Swiss set to approve AstraZeneca vaccine this month

AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine could win Swiss regulatory approval as early as this month, the NZZ newspaper reported on Saturday, citing two unnamed sources.

It said watchdog Swissmedic plans a meeting at the end of the month to sign off on the jab. It has already approved vaccines from Pfizer and partner BioNTech, and from Moderna.

“If everything proceeds in an exemplary manner and we get the necessary data soon, the next approval decision can come very quickly,” the paper cited a Swissmedic spokesman as saying without giving a date.

Switzerland has ordered 15 million vaccine doses in total after setting aside 400 million Swiss francs ($449 million) for shots.

High global demand and limited production means there is too little vaccine to go around, although the Swiss government has told the country’s 8.6 million residents that everybody who wants to can likely get vaccinated for free by mid-year.