EU regulator backs Pfizer Covid shot as booster after other vaccines

Recommendation comes as global cases of virus top 500m amid Omicron surge

A European Medicines Agency committee has recommended approving the Pfizer / BioNTech’s vaccine as a booster for adults who have previously been inoculated with other vaccines.
A European Medicines Agency committee has recommended approving the Pfizer / BioNTech’s vaccine as a booster for adults who have previously been inoculated with other vaccines.

A European Medicines Agency committee on Friday recommended approving the use of Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, as a booster for adults who have previously been inoculated with other vaccines.

The recommendation from Europe’s drug regulator comes days after global Covid-19 cases surpassed 500 million, according to a Reuters tally, as the highly contagious BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron surges in many countries.

Some European countries are now seeing a slower uptick in new cases, or even a decline, but the region is still reporting over one million cases about every two days, according to the Reuters tally published on Thursday.

In the United States, Comirnaty has already been authorised as a booster following two shots of any other type of vaccine.

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Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech showed that three doses of their shot produced significant protection against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in healthy children aged five to 11. – Reuters