OUR European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved today on Monday the custom vaccine against COVID-19 which targets sub-options BA.4 and BA.5″Omicron”a few days after he approved the updated formulations targeting the BA.1 sub-option.

The most recent recommendation concerns a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine targeting sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5, as well as an initial strain that appeared in China in December 2019.

Although existing vaccines adequately protect against hospitalization and death, their effectiveness decreases with the emergence of new virus mutations.

“Important step”

The EMA’s positive opinion on the adapted vaccine is “another important step” to support Member States’ fall and winter vaccination efforts, Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakidou said in a tweet.

.@EMA_News gave a positive opinion on the adapted #COVID-19 a booster vaccine from BioNTech-Pfizer targeting the BA.4/BA.5 Omicron sub-variants.

This is another key step in support of Member States’ efforts for autumn/winter vaccination.

➡️@EU_Commission authorization will follow. https://t.co/Tq2EmWsKGb

— Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) September 12, 2022

In particular, he noted the following:

“The European Medicines Agency has given a positive opinion on BioNTech-Pfizer’s customized COVID19 booster vaccine targeting the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants.

This is another key step in support of Member States’ efforts for autumn/winter vaccination.

Permission from the European Commission will follow.”

^{According to Reuters}