Coronavirus: Updated boosters targeting Omicron variant likely within weeks following EU approval

Adapted Covid-19 vaccines that provide stronger protection against variants in circulation could be available within weeks after EU regulators recommended two new boosters.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended authorising two adapted vaccines, made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, which target the Omicron/BA.1 subvariant in addition to the original strain of the virus.

The opinion of the EMA’s human medicines committee, announced on Thursday, will be sent to the European Commission for a final decision. This is likely to come within days; any decision is legally binding in Ireland.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said on Thursday he had discussed the availability of adapted vaccines with interim chief medical officer Prof Breda Smyth this week. Mr Donnelly said he had been assured that any new vaccines could be made available in Ireland within a week of getting the regulatory green light, as supply chains have already been set up to get the vaccines into Ireland and to distribute them.

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The EMA has recommended Corminaty Original/Omicron BA. 1 and Spikevax Bivalent Original/Omicron BA. 1 for use in people aged 12 years and over who have received at least one primary vaccination against Covid-19.

Vaccines are adapted, or updated, to better match the circulating variants of Sars-CoV-2, the EMA said. “Adapted vaccines can broaden protection against different variants and are therefore expected to help maintain optimal protection against Covid-19 as the virus evolves.”

The EU’s strategy is to have a broad range of adapted vaccines that target different variants so member states have “a plurality of options” when designing vaccination strategies, said the agency. “This is a key element in the overall strategy to combat the pandemic as it is not possible to predict how the virus will evolve in the future and which variants will be circulating this winter.”

Adapted vaccines

In Ireland at present, the dominant variant is BA.5, a sublineage of the Omicron variant.

The EMA said other adapted vaccines incorporating BA.5 and other subvariants are under review or will be submitted soon.

The adapted vaccines should help to address the issue of waning immunity against infection among first-generation vaccines.

The original vaccines, Comirnaty and Spikevax, are still effective at preventing severe disease, hospitalisation and death associated with coronavirus, said the EMA and will continue to be used, in particular for primary vaccinations.

In August, Britain became the first country to approve Moderna’s adapted vaccine. Switzerland and Australia have since followed suit.