EMA Reviews AstraZeneca Vaccine for Booster Shots

The major European drug regulator, European Medicines Agency (EMA), said on Thursday that it started to review AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for booster shots to be authorized in near future, Reuters reported.

EMA added that it already authorized mRNA-technology-based vaccines for booster shots such as Moderna and Pfizer.

EMA's head of Vaccines Strategy Marco Cavaleri highlighted: "AstraZeneca is submitting data to us. Actually today they submitted a new package of data that could support an extension to use the booster."

He added: "We will be discussing with them whether this data could be sufficient for (authorization) or whether we need more evidence."

The European drug regulator previously authorized several vaccines for booster shots to be given at least six months after the injection of two-dose vaccines.

Only limited categories will be allowed to receive the third vaccine shot which are elder people, persons in high risk, and medical staff members due to COVID-19 fourth wave.

It is worthy to mention that a recent study showed that two shots of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine are highly effective against the latest Delta COVID-19 variant.

Although various experts announced previously that all approved vaccines are effective against the highly transmissible strain, scientists showed that one shot of the vaccine is not enough for securing from the variant. The two shots are required.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicines, it asserted that the high efficiency of both two-shot vaccines against the Delta strain, and it is based on “real-world data."

The two-dose-Pfizer was effective by 88% against Delta strain, compared to 93.7% against the earliest variants of COVID-19, Alpha strain.

On the other hand, the study revealed that two shots of AstraZeneca were effective by 67% against the Delta variant, compared to 74.5% against the Alpha variant.