Faced with the epidemic rebound that is crossing Europe, the Commission and the health agencies of the European Union recommended on Monday a second booster dose of vaccines against Covid-19 for everyone over 60, instead of 80 until here.
“I call on Member States to immediately offer second boosters to all over 60s and vulnerable people, and I call on all eligible people to come forward for vaccination,” said the European Commissioner for Health. Health Stella Kyriakides in a press release. The recommendation also applies to all vulnerable people, says the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Already in April, the two EU health agencies had recommended this second booster dose – in most cases the fourth dose – for the over-80s, but signaled that an extension to the over-60s could follow.
“The beginning of a new wave in the European Union”
Europe is facing “an increase in Covid cases but also an upward trend in the number of hospitalizations or emergency admissions in several countries, mainly due to the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron” , underlined the director of the ECDC, Andrea Ammon. “This signals the start of a new widespread wave of Covid-19 across the European Union. There are still too many people at risk of a serious Covid infection that we must protect as soon as possible, ”insists the European official.
According to the latest data from the World Health Organization for its Europe zone covering around fifty countries, the number of Covid cases has been rising sharply since the end of May. The number of new daily cases exceeded 675,000 on Friday, returning to its level of early April after the strong winter surge.
According to the ECDC and the EMA, on the other hand, there is “at this stage no clear evidence justifying giving a second booster dose to people under 60 who do not have a higher risk of developing a serious form. of Covid-19. This new recommendation comes as new vaccines, in particular with messenger RNA adapted to Omicron, are expected at the start of the school year.
This Monday morning, the president of the Scientific Council, Jean-François Delfraissy also called on the “oldest and most fragile people” to get their fourth dose “now”. Because even if vaccination does not prevent contamination, all studies show that “it protects against severe forms and serious forms”, he recalled.