The European Union drug regulator’s decision whether to approve two of the leading Covid-19 vaccine candidates won’t come for about a month, putting the 27 member countries of the bloc behind the US and UK in mobilizing for widespread vaccinations.

The European Medicines Agency said on 1 December that its formal assessment of the vaccine from drugmaker Pfizer and its partner BioNTech would come by 29 December, while the assessment for biotech company Moderna’s vaccine will happen by 12 January.