Evidence to recommend 2nd COVID vaccine booster 'insufficient', says EMA - China.org.cn

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Thursday that there was "insufficient evidence" for it to recommend the administration of a second booster vaccine against COVID-19.

"At the moment, there is insufficient evidence from clinical trials or real-world evidence that could support our recommendation for the general population," said Marco Cavaleri, who heads the EMA's Biological Health Threats and Vaccines Strategy Office.

Cavaleri stressed at a press conference the importance of continuing the vaccination campaigns, including the first booster, which offers a high degree of protection against the virus.

He highlighted the emergence of new sub-variants of Omicron, such as the so-called BA.2 variant, which is spreading in many countries.

It is too early to say to what extent this variant differs from Omicron in terms of transmissibility and immune evasion, but it remains a closely related strain to Omicron.

The EMA "would support any requests for approval of an upgraded COVID-19 vaccine targeting only the new Omicron variant," he said.

Cavaleri said the agency was considering a request to extend the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech booster to 16-17-year-olds and it expected to receive a similar request for its use in the 12 to 15 age group.