EU watchdog reviews Pfizer vaccine adapted for Omicron

Europe's medicines watchdog said Wednesday it has started to review an adapted version of Pfizer/BioNTech's anti-COVID jab in order to better protect against specific variants of the virus, including Omicron.

"As the company makes progress in the development of its adapted vaccine, EMA will receive more data, including data on the immune response to the vaccine, as well as data on its efficacy against Omicron sub variants," the European Medicines Agency said.

"By starting a rolling review, EMA will be able to assess these data as they become available," the Amsterdam-based agency said.

However, it stressed that the details about the adaptive vaccine "for example whether it will specifically target one of more COVID variants, are not yet defined."

The EMA's rolling review will continue until there are enough data for a formal application to market the drug within the 27-nation bloc, the EMA said.

Worries that the coronavirus, particularly the BA.4 and BA.5 variants, are making a comeback are mounting including in Britain and the Netherlands where infection levels have rising to the highest levels in three months.

© 2022 AFP