Austria's Chancellor Intends To Get Vaccinated With Yet Unauthorized AstraZeneca Shot

VIENNA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2021) Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced his intention on Wednesday to get inoculated with the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine despite it not having the European Union's authorization at the moment.

"AstraZeneca is safe and up to all scientific standards. Many call BioNTech/Pfizer the Mercedes of the vaccines and AstraZeneca the Skoda. I will quite deliberately get the AstraZeneca vaccine to dispel these myths and increase the confidence in vaccination," Kurz told Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung.

With AstraZeneca's vaccine still lacking the authorization for use in the European Union, the Austrian chancellor, who is 34 years old, said he could wait due to not being in the priority age group.

On Monday, Kurz said that Austria, Denmark and Greece will be seeking that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorize the AstraZeneca vaccine as soon as possible.

The UK-Swedish pharmaceutical company submitted the application on January 12.

To date, the EMA authorized the coronavirus vaccines by US pharmaceutical company Moderna and US-German duo Pfizer/BioNTech. The processing of AstraZeneca's authorization application is expected to take until the end of January.

Austria's mass vaccination campaign began on December 27, as in other EU member states. The first tier of recipients include seniors aged 80 and older, especially those residing in care facilities, and medical workers. On Sunday, Kurz declared an extension of the third hard quarantine until February 7.