With the approach of a winter recall campaign to prevent new waves of contamination, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved on Monday September 12 a vaccine against Covid-19 developed by Pfizer and targeting “Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in addition to the original strain”, she said in a statement.
The adapted version of the Comirnaty messenger RNA Covid-19 vaccine, the result of the alliance between the American giant Pfizer and the German company BioNTech, is intended for people over the age of 12 who have received primary vaccinations against Covid. -19.
This vaccine should be “more effective than Comirnaty in eliciting an immune response against BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants”more benign but more easily transmissible, assures the European regulator based in Amsterdam.
Expand “the arsenal of available vaccines”
Whereas “new waves of infections are anticipated during the cold season”this recommendation “will further expand the arsenal of vaccines available to protect people against Covid-19” within the European Union (EU), specifies the EAJ.
“The EU strategy is to have a wide range of suitable vaccines that target different variants of SARS-CoV-2develops the European regulator, so that Member States have various options to meet their needs when designing their vaccination campaigns. »
The move closely follows the approval earlier this month of two other vaccines, which target the original coronavirus strain and Omicron’s earlier BA.1 subline, adapted by Pfizer and rival Moderna.
WEA’s opinion on “Comirnaty Original-Omicron BA.4-5” will now be sent to the European Commission, which must adopt a final decision. Data evaluation confirmed that the vaccine “meets EU quality standards”according to the WEA.
Dominant subvariants
Omicron and its sub-variants have been dominant in contaminations throughout 2022, quickly taking the place of previous Alpha and Delta variants. The BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are particularly responsible for a wave of new cases in Europe and the United States since the spring.
All variants of Omicron tend to cause a milder course of disease, as they settle less in the lungs and more in the upper nasal passages, causing symptoms such as fever, fatigue and loss of smell.
European health authorities recommended last week that the elderly and people at risk of a severe form of Covid-19 be on the front line for the administration of vaccines adapted to the Omicron variant.
However, the original version of the vaccine is, according to the regulator, still effective in preventing severe forms of the disease, hospitalizations and the death it can cause, and will continue to be used in the context of vaccination campaigns in the EU, especially for primary vaccinations.