Covid: European Medicines Agency affirms that it is too early for a fourth dose

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) considered that it is still too early to advocate a second booster dose against COVID-19, despite the rapid increase in new infections caused by the omicron variant.

READ ALSO: Moderna asks the US to authorize a fourth dose of its vaccine for people over 18 years of age

“We note that the rate of infections is increasing in several Member States, after the setback we have witnessed in recent weeks,” Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccination strategy at the EMA, whose headquarters are in Amsterdam, told a press conference.

The EMA “continues to monitor the effectiveness of vaccines anticovid against the Ómicron variant”, he stated, adding: “I want to reiterate that there is still no evidence (…) that booster for the general population.

READ ALSO: Covid: Ómicron causes 59% less risk of hospitalization than the Delta variant

The French government announced on Saturday that it will open the fourth dose of the covid vaccine “to those over 80 years of age who have received the booster more than three months ago”before a slight rebound in the epidemic.

For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern on Wednesday about the increase in COVID-19 infections.

READ ALSO: WHO warns that the COVID-19 pandemic is “far from the end”

After having regressed for several weeks, cases have increased 8% last week, to 11 million, with , according to the WHO.

Pharmaceutical requests authorizations

The American pharmaceutical company Moderna asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US regulatory body, on Thursday to authorize the administration for those over 18 years of age of a second booster dose of its vaccine against the COVID-19.

Moderna’s request is broader than the one made on Tuesday by US drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, who asked the FDA to approve a second booster dose of the vaccine but only for adults 65 and older.

Agencies

• Moderna asks the US to authorize a fourth dose of its vaccine for people over 18 years of age
• Covid: Ómicron causes 59% less risk of hospitalization than the Delta variant
• WHO warns that the COVID-19 pandemic is “far from the end”
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• What is known about a possible variant that combines the BA.1 and BA.2 lineages of Ómicron
• Coronavirus: “deltacrón” and 3 other questions about what has happened to covid so far in 2022
• Fourth anticovid dose provides “marginal benefits” against Ómicron in healthy adults, study revealed
• Is a fourth dose necessary for people over 65 years of age, as proposed by Pfizer?
• Persistent covid can cause a rare respiratory disease
• The viruses that can remain hidden in the body and cause problems decades later (and what about the coronavirus)
• Coronavirus: China returns to lockdowns “like two years ago” and quarantines more than 36 million people
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• Chinese scientists achieve the birth of mice without sexual activity or sperm
• The pandemic in Hong Kong: does the zero COVID-19 policy work?, by Elmer Huerta

Source: Elcomercio

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