Too Early To Know If New Covid Variant Needs New Vaccine: EU Medical Body
New Delhi: The European Medical body on Friday expressed serious concern over rising cases of new covid-19 variant in several countries. On the new variant detected in African countries The EU’s drug regulator said that it was closely monitoring the new B.1.1.529 Covid-19 variant, but it was too soon to tell if updated vaccines would be needed.
The European Medicines Agency said it needed more details to see if the strain, which has “numerous mutations”, could evade the current four jabs authorised for the bloc.
“We are closely monitoring the newly emerged B.1.1.529 variant which presents numerous mutations in the Covid-19 spike protein. Current information is insufficient to determine if this variant is going to spread significantly and to what extent it may evade the immunity received with vaccines,” the Amsterdam-based EMA said in a statement to media.
The EMA has so far approved four vaccines for use for adults in the EU: Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which use messenger RNA technology, and AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, which use viral vector technology.
BioNTech said Friday it expected data on how well its vaccine protects against the new variant “in two weeks at the latest”.
