BERLIN, Dec 21 (Reuters) - German Health Minister Jens Spahn on Monday welcomed the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech by the European Medicines Agency as a milestone in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. “Vaccination is paving the way for us out of the crisis. And we’re doing everything we can to take this path as quickly as possible,” Spahn said. He added that authorities would start the first vaccination in elderly homes on December 27. (Reporting by Michael Nienaber, editing by Tom Sims)