The High Authority for Health (HAS) will issue a global opinion in mid-September on bivalent vaccines, targeting the original strain and the Omicron variant of Covid-19, it said on Monday.
The European medicines regulator (EMA) approved last Thursday the first Covid-19 vaccines adapted to the Omicron variant, those of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, with a view to a withdrawal campaign this winter to scare off a possible new vaccine. These vaccines, which target the Omicron BA.1 subvariant in addition to the original strain of the coronavirus, which appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019, “will be available in France in October”, recalls the High Health Authority.
The HAS “analyzed them with a view to integrating them into the vaccine strategy,” he stresses.
But the examination by the EMA of the vaccines adapted to the BA.4 and BA.5 variants is scheduled for mid-September, “it is for this purpose that the HAS will publish a global opinion on all bivalent vaccines,” he specifies. . The High Authority for Health was initially due to decide on the new bivalent vaccines on Monday.
“An epidemic rebound cannot be ruled out”
European countries are eagerly awaiting vaccines targeting the Omicron variant so they can launch booster campaigns ahead of the feared resurgence in Covid-19 cases this winter.
“A rebound in the epidemic in the coming weeks cannot be ruled out. That is why people at risk of a severe form of Covid-19 whose first withdrawal is old should not wait to issue a new withdrawal”, insists the HAS.
Source: BFM TV
