COVID-19 vaccination could be annual in the European Union, according to EMA

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) found on Wednesday that vaccination against COVID-19 can be administered “once a year” and warned that the virus “still represents a significant burden” on health systems in Europe, especially due to low levels of reinforcement in vulnerable groups.

The agency “will continue to monitor emerging data in the coming months to determine the most appropriate vaccine formulation criteria” for future use against the virus. COVID-19Marco Cavaleri, head of EMA vaccination strategy, explained at a press conference today.

“While it is true that the virus does not yet behave like an endemic seasonal respiratory virus like other endemic coronaviruses, we hope that campaigns vaccination happen mostly once a year. The best time to do this would be the start of the cold season when other vaccines for respiratory viruses will be introduced,” he said.

The epidemiological situation is constantly improving

During this time, the epidemiological situation is “constantly improving” and data show a decrease in the number of new infections, hospitalizations and deaths, while “the lowest levels are observed in European Union (EU) over the past 12 months,” he admitted.

“But COVID-19 continues to place a significant burden on health systems in European Union. In this context, the small number of booster doses among vulnerable groups, such as people over 65 years of age, is a public health concern (…) It is important not to lose vigilance while the virus continues to evolve, lamented Cavaleri.

In his opinion, it is “wise” to start thinking about “the direction of the influenza paradigm, despite the uncertainty we currently have” about the behavior of the virus, and taking into account that “re-vaccination may not be acceptable in the general population, therefore it would be better to consider scheduling a vaccination once a year, or perhaps synchronize it with other respiratory viruses.

European Union there are already vaccines COVID-19 developed by a total of eight pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer, Valneva, Novavax, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen and Sanofi Pasteur), although the EMA is also constantly reviewing data for three other vaccines: Spain’s Hipra, Russia’s Sputnik and China’s Vero Cell.

EMA protects and promotes human and animal health through the evaluation and monitoring of medicines in European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA).

(As reported by EFE)

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