2023-08-30 19:12:51
A new release for a new strain. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Wednesday approved a version of the Covid vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech aimed at countering infection with the widespread XBB.1.5 subvariant.
If, since the beginning of May, the World Health Organization no longer considers Covid-19 a global health emergency, the virus continues to circulate in all countries, and new strains continue to emerge. The EMA thus announced in a press release that it had “recommended to authorize a vaccine (…) adapted targeting the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant”.
“Optimal protection against other variants”
The European regulator had recommended in June that vaccines be updated to target the XBB strain of the virus which has become dominant in Europe and other parts of the world. The new approved messenger RNA vaccine is intended to prevent Covid-19 in adults and children from six months of age. “As Omicron XBB.1.5 is closely related to other variants currently in circulation, the vaccine should help maintain optimal protection against (…) these other variants,” according to the EMA.
Adults and children over the age of five need a single injection “regardless of their Covid-19 vaccination history”, while younger children may receive “one or three doses depending on whether they have followed a cycle of primo-vaccination or had the Covid-19”, specified the organization which sits in Amsterdam. Side effects are generally mild and short-lived, according to the regulator, who nevertheless clarified that “more serious side effects may occur in rare cases”.
Comirnaty was first authorized in the EU in September 2020. Adaptive versions targeting other Covid-19 subvariants received the green light from European health authorities in September 2022. Other pharmaceutical groups are preparing vaccines targeting the XBB line.
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