Status: 09/01/2022 07:22 a.m
In the fight against the corona pandemic, the European Medicines Agency has two applications for the approval of omicron boosters on the table. Approval could come as soon as today.
A formality – that is the expected approval of the first corona vaccine adapted against the omicron variant, above all. This assessment is often heard in Brussels these days, and in fact not only the EU Commission assumes that the European Medicines Agency EMA will give the green light to the two new vaccines, one from BioNTech/Pfizer and the other from Moderna.
Because the scientific investigations have been running at full speed for months. Among other things, the vaccines against the omicron subtype BA.1 have been tested on several hundred people. It was compared with control groups and, above all, the experience with the original vaccine was used. Because the basic pattern of production is similar: the two products for booster vaccinations targeted against the omicron variant are also mRNA vaccines.
The virus cannot be vaccinated away
What was left out before approval this time: An exact statistical survey of the percentage of products that can prevent a disease. Because experience has taught that the virus cannot be vaccinated one way or the other, but that the probability of a serious illness can be reduced.
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakidis has repeatedly emphasized that the challenges to public health are now better dealt with, and that lessons have been learned from the first waves of the pandemic.
Concrete vaccination recommendation still unclear
It is still unclear whether the EMA will announce the approval today or in the next few days. The same applies to the question of a specific vaccination recommendation. Because it is clear: It is now about a booster against BA.1. In the next few weeks, further vaccines adapted to the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, which have been in widespread use recently, are to be approved.
This raises the question, especially for people with a weakened immune system or for the elderly, whether they should perhaps wait until then with the booster vaccination. The European Parliamentarian and health expert Peter Liese from the CDU has a clear answer:
Those who wish can wait longer, but there is no reason not to take this adapted vaccine now. If the last vaccination or infection was at least three months ago or if it was six months ago, there is no reason to wait, especially for people with previous illnesses or for the elderly.
After all, the difference between the BA.1 vaccine, which is now about to be approved, and the one against BA.4 and BA.5 is not that significant, says Liese, while the difference between the original vaccine and the vaccine that has now been adapted is very large.
BA.1 booster extensively tested
Anyone who decides to take the BA.1 booster vaccination after approval can also assume good tolerability because it has been extensively tested. According to Liese, there is no clear answer as to whether vaccination is now advisable in principle, ultimately it is an individual decision, at least until there is a recommendation from the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO), at least for Germany.
However, the MEP and doctor from the Sauerland does not assume one thing: that there could be something like a new corona killer virus in autumn. Most experts thought that was very unlikely. Nevertheless, vaccination remains the decisive means in the fight against the pandemic.