“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.
Pazuello said the expected vaccines in January could be made up of 500,000 Pfizer doses, 9 million doses from China's Sinovac and 15 million doses from AstraZeneca.
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.
At least two trays of COVID-19 vaccine doses delivered in California needed to be replaced after their storage temperatures dipped below minus 80 Celsius
Officials are investigating whether storing the vaccines at excessively cold temperatures poses a safety or efficacy risk
"However, since the vials are preservative free, it is critical to note that any further remaining product that does not constitute a full dose should not be pooled from multiple vials to create one," the statement added.
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,".