“The data currently available support the safe and effective administration of a booster dose as early as three months after the end of the primary vaccination course, if such a short interval is desirable from a public health point of view,” said the head of the vaccination strategy of the EMA.
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The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on Thursday, December 9 that booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccine could be administered in a “safe and efficient” just three months after the last injection. “While the current recommendation is to give the boosters preferably after six months, the data currently available support the safe and effective administration of a booster dose as early as three months after the end of the primary series, if such a short interval is desirable from a public health point of view “, said Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccine strategy for the European agency based in Amsterdam.
Marco Cavaleri also reiterated that he was “too early to say if the composition of the vaccines will have to be changed” to control the Omicron variant. The European regulator recently said it could authorize suitable vaccines against the new variant in three to four months if they were to be needed. “Companies that market anti-Covid-19 vaccines are required to submit the results of their laboratory tests to determine the level of neutralization for Omicron”, pointed Marco Cavaleri.
Symptoms triggered by the Omicron variant in cases identified in the European Union “seem mostly light”, also reported the EMA. “But we need to gather more evidence to determine whether the spectrum of disease severity caused by Omicron is different from that of all of the variants that have circulated so far.”, added Marco Cavaleri.