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The European Medicines Agency considers that this is the most likely option and that immunization will take place in the autumn, along with that of influenza and other viruses.
15 Feb 2023. Updated at 4:50 p.m.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) considered this Wednesday that vaccination against covid 19 can be administered “once a year” and warned that “the virus still represents a significant burden” for health systems in Europe, especially for the low reinforcement rate in vulnerable groups.
The agency “will continue to monitor emerging data over the coming months to determine the most appropriate criteria for the composition of the vaccines” that will be used in the future against covid-19, explained this Wednesday at a press conference the head of Vaccination Strategy of the EMA, Marco Cavaleri.
Although it is true that the virus does not yet behave like a seasonal endemic respiratory virus, like other endemic coronaviruses, we expect vaccination campaigns to take place mainly once a year. The best time for this will be the beginning of the cold season, when other vaccines for respiratory viruses are administered,” he noted.
At the moment, the epidemiological situation “is constantly improving” and the data shows a drop in new infections, hospitalizations and deaths, with “the lowest levels observed in the European Union (EU) in the last 12 months,” he admitted.
“But the covid-19 still places a significant burden on health systems of the EU. In this context, the low numbers of booster dose administration in vulnerable groups, such as people over 65, is a concern from a public health perspective (…) It is important not to let our guard down while the virus continues to evolve”, lamented Cavaleri.
In his opinion, it is “reasonable” to start thinking about “the direction of the influenza paradigm, without prejudice to the uncertainties that we have at this time” about the behavior of the virus, and taking into account that “repeat vaccination may not be accepted in the general population, so it would be better to consider scheduling the vaccine once a year, or perhaps synchronizing it with that of other respiratory viruses.
The EU already has vaccines for covid-19 developed by a total of eight pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer, Valneva, Novavax, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen and Sanofi Pasteur), although the EMA also keeps data on three other vaccines under continuous review: the Spanish Hipra, the Russian Sputnik, and the Chinese Vero Cell.
