Omicron vaccines expected to be approved by September

Spread the love

Read Time:1 Minute, 3 Second

According to estimates by the EU medicines agency EMA, vaccines against the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus variant could receive approval by the end of September. The best chances would be for appropriately adapted mRNA vaccines from the companies Moderna and Biontech, EMA Director of Vaccine Strategy Marco Cavaleri said Thursday at a press conference held by the agency in Amsterdam. The necessary clinical trials are underway, he said. The Austrian-French company Valenva, after all, wants to have its inactivated vaccine, which is not yet on the market, approved as a booster as well.

The EMA is also examining preparations from other manufacturers. However, it is “no secret” that adaptations of mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Biontech to Omicron are already quite advanced. He did not provide details on the study data collected so far.

Closing the vaccination gap

At the same time, Cavaleri appealed to unvaccinated people to protect themselves from Corona through vaccination before the fall/winter. “The top priority must be to close the vaccination gap.” Only 50 percent of Europeans have been fully vaccinated and boosted to date, while 15 percent of Europe’s residents over 18 have not received a single vaccination against Covid-19.