The European Medicines Agency has recommended conditional market approval for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The product should be administrated to people over 18 years of age, the agency said.

The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday recommended the vaccine produced by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca for conditional market authorization.

Clinical trials showed that the vaccine "was safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 in people from 18 years of age," EMA said.

The European Commission is expected to give the vaccine formal approval within hours. That would make it the bloc's third certified vaccine, along with those made by the US-German enterprise BioNTech-Pfizer and the US firm Moderna.

Germany's vaccine commission had said on Thursday that it could not recommend the use of the jabs on people aged 65 years and older because efficacy data for the group were lacking.

Older age groups and people with underlying conditions are among the first in line to be vaccinated in most countries with active vaccination programs.

On Wednesday, the EU aired its frustrations with AstraZeneca, suggesting the pharmaceutical giant was reneging on its agreement.

Germany's vaccination process was dealt a blow last week when AstraZeneca unexpectedly announced cuts in supplies to the EU, citing production problems at a Belgian factory.

That triggered a furious response from the bloc, with an estimated 60 percent cut to 31 million doses in the period to the end of March.

The news was a major blow for the EU's 27 member states, which are already lagging vaccination campaigns in Israel, Britain and the United States. The company on Friday said it could offer a further 8 million doses to the EU, with the bloc saying this still fell well short of the promised amount.

(With input from agencies)