“Women and men stationed far away from home to ensure our security know what it means to have limited contact with loved ones,” Merkel said in her weekly video podcast.
"After a meticulous review of the available information, Swissmedic concluded that the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech is safe and that its benefit outweighs the risks," the body said in a statement.
Under the deal, Pfizer will deliver the first one million doses in the first quarter of 2021, with 1.7 million, 5.8 million and 4.3 million doses to follow in subsequent quarters.
"The data available to date showed a comparable high level of efficacy in all investigated age groups, thus meeting the safety requirements," it said on its website.
Pfizer said in a statement it had made the application to Japan's Health Ministry, along with providing information on tests it has carried out up to now.
Earlier this week, health authorities asked citizens and residents to register to receive the vaccine, which they said would be given free to all in the country.
Appearing with Buttigieg in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said the 38-year-old would confront the task of restoring what he called "our crumbling roads, bridges and ports." Biden has proposed a massive boost in infrastructure spending.
With hospitalizations setting a record for the 19th day in a row - nearly 113,000 patients under treatment on Wednesday - health experts warn that fatalities will rise higher still in the weeks ahead, even as the vaccine campaign steadily expands.
Castex told parliament that the vaccine campaign in France would then be stepped up in January, with the elderly and other more vulnerable groups coming first in the queue.
The World Health Organization’s COVAX programme is the main global scheme to vaccinate people in poor and middle income countries around the world against the coronavirus.
"A really good start to the vaccination program. It's been 7 days and we have done: England: 108,000, Wales: 7,897, Northern Ireland: 4,000, Scotland: 18,000. U.K Total 137,897,".
Brent crude futures rose 25 cents, or 0.5pc, to $51.01 a barrel by 1017 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 21 cents, or 0.4pc, at $47.83.
Separately, Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co Ltd aims to have enough capacity to produce at least 100 million doses of a vaccine candidate from British partner AstraZeneca PLC by year-end.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was last at 90.477, after sinking as low as 90.419 on Monday, a level not seen since April 2018.