Cyberattack Targeting Coronavirus Data at the EU’s Medicines. A cyberattack targeting coronavirus data at the EU Medicines Watchdog lasted two weeks, but the timetable for approval of jabs will not be impacted, the regulator’s head said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the European Medicines Agency reported the cyberattack but provided few specifics, although Pfizer-BioNTech confirmed that records related to its regulatory submission had been hacked illegally.
“We have been subject of a cyberattack over the last couple of weeks. This is being investigated,” Emer Cooke, president of EMA, told a committee of the European Parliament.
She said I can assure you that this will not affect the timeline for the delivery of vaccines and that we are fully functional,”
The Amsterdam-based EMA investigated the hack “in conjunction with experts from cybersecurity authorities across the EU, and with the criminal authorities and the Dutch police.”
The agency has said it would offer a decision on conditional approval for Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine at a meeting to be held by December 29 at the latest, while a verdict on Moderna’s version could follow by January 12.
Based on the evidence for the two vaccines so far, Cooke said the safety and efficacy look very promising, and we have not seen the adverse events coming up that would be a concern.”
