The European Medicines Agency EMA is reviewing the approval of a new Covid vaccine against the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
The EMA said on Tuesday that it had “begun to process an application for approval of an adapted version of Spikevax” from the manufacturer Moderna.
This is a so-called bivalent corona vaccine, which is designed to defend against the original form of the corona virus as well as BA.4 and BA.5, the currently dominant subtypes of the omicron variant of the corona virus.
The agency did not say when approval is expected.
Two weeks ago, the EMA had already approved a vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer that is also effective against the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
On September 1st, the EMA approved the first corona vaccines adapted to the omicron variant.
The two vaccines in question from Biontech/Pfizer and Moderna target the omicron subvariant BA.1.
A week ago, the EMA warned that the corona pandemic was not over yet.
With the beginning of autumn, Europe has to prepare for new waves of infection, as there have been in the past two winters.