The European Medicines Agency has received a request for approval from AstraZeneca for the Covid-19 vaccine it developed with Oxford University.
The EMA said it would assess the application under an accelerated timeline. An opinion on the conditional marketing authorisation could be issued by 29 January, it said in a statement.
The EMA has already recommended authorisation for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines which the European Commission subsequently approved for use in member states.
Moderna said deliveries of its coronavirus vaccine to EU and EEA member states began yesterday. Professor Karina Butler, chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, said she understands a quantity of the vaccine will be in Ireland this