THE HAGUE – The European Union started the approval process for its third vaccine on Tuesday as WHO scientists warned that herd immunity from coronavirus is unlikely this year even with mass inoculation schemes.
The 27-nation EU — under fire for lengthy approval processes and slow national rollouts of virus shots — promised an “accelerated timeline” after confirming drug company AstraZeneca had applied for approval for the jab it developed with Oxford University.
The EU’s medicines agency said a decision would still not come before January 29, even though the drug is already being used in countries including Britain.
But the European Commission said Tuesday it had…
