Q&A: Why is EU taking so long to approve coronavirus vaccine?

Pressure is building on the European Medicines Agency to approve the shot made by Pfizer and German company BioNTech. Picture: Frank Augstein/Pool/AP. Picture: JEAN-PIERRE MULLER/AFP/Getty Images)

As the British, Americans and Canadians begin getting immunised with a German-developed vaccine against coronavirus, pressure is building on the European Medicines Agency to approve the jab.

German officials have been especially vocal – given the involvement of Mainz-based BioNTech alongside US firm Pfizer – that they want it approved before Christmas.