This new version of the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech is specifically adapted to sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5 from Omicron variant.
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New green light from the European regulator. LEuropean Medicines Agency (EMA) approved, Monday, September 12, a vaccine against Covid-19 from laboratories and Pfizer and BioNTech targeting sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5 of the Omicron variant. This version of the vaccine is intended for people aged 12 and over who have received at least one primary vaccination against Covid-19.
This new version should be “more efficient” to trigger “an immune response against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants”assures the EMA in a press release (in English). Whereas “new waves of infections are anticipated during the cold season”this authorization “will further expand the arsenal of vaccines available to protect people against Covid-19” within the European Union, estimates the European regulator. The BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are notably responsible for a wave of new cases in Europe and the United States in recent months.
The green light from the EMA closely follows the approval earlier this month of two other adapted vaccines by Pfizer and rival Moderna, which target the original Covid-19 strain and Omicron’s earlier BA.1 subvariant. For now, EU member states are still using the same Covid-19 vaccines approved two years ago for use against the original strain of the virus.