As of: 09/12/2022 7:26 p.m
The EU countries can use another booster vaccine: The EU Commission has approved a bivalent vaccine from BioNTech/Pfizer. It is intended to protect against the predominant subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
The European Commission has approved a new Covid-19 booster from BioNTech/Pfizer. The European Union Medicines Agency (EMA) had previously recommended approval of the vaccine. The so-called bivalent vaccine targets both the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants and the original strain of the coronavirus.
Studies indicated that the combination agent elicited an effective immune response to both the original virus and subtypes BA.4 and BA.5, the EMA said. The vaccine is expected to be as safe as the original version. However, due to limited data, the authority is keeping an eye on the global market launch.
The approval of this vaccine from BioNTech/Pfizer expands the vaccine arsenal once again in order to be able to protect against Covid-19 with a view to the approaching autumn and winter, according to the EMA.
First Omikron booster already approved
On September 1, the first of the corona vaccines adapted to the omicron variant were approved: two vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna, which, however, target the omicron subvariant BA.1.
The subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are currently prevalent worldwide; they caused the most recent corona waves in Europe and the USA in the past few months.