Representatives of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Wednesday 24 November called on Member States to “very urgently consider” the administration of booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccines “for people above 40 years and in principle for everyone that is eligible for vaccination”.
The last position of the two European organisations on the subject was in September (see EUROPE 12782/22): the ECDC and the EMA did not consider it “urgent” to administer a booster dose to the general population. But the health situation has worsened since then, especially in recent weeks.
The ECDC published on Wednesday a risk assessment based on new modelling scenarios, according to which the burden - i.e. hospitalisations, deaths - related to the spread of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the EU and the European Economic Area (EU/EEA) will be very high in December and January, if no measures are taken to deal with it.
In the EU/EEA, notification rates of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 population over 14 days rose from just under 200 in October to around 400 in November - they were around 600 this time a year ago.
Overall, the situation is most worrying in countries with lower vaccination coverage and slower vaccine roll-out rates, notes the ECDC.
“However, uptake of full vaccination in the total population has started to plateau in many countries, and a worsening epidemiological situation is observed even among countries that have some of the highest uptake”, the Centre says.
In response to this weakening of vaccine immunity, the ECDC and EMA - based on the available clinical data on the efficacy of the third dose of Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine and positive evidence from Israel and the UK - are therefore advocating the administration of booster doses.
Practical recommendations to this effect have already been published by the EMA for the two messenger RNA vaccines authorised in the EU (see EUROPE 12805/8, EUROPE 12820/21).
Immunodeficiency and non-pharmaceutical measures
The EMA’s Head of Biological Health Threats and Vaccine Strategy, Marco Cavaleri, and ECDC Director Andrea Ammon also stressed at a press conference on Wednesday the urgency of coupling the administration of booster doses with two complementary measures in order to prevent the scenarios announced from becoming reality.
The first of these two measures is to improve vaccination coverage. At this stage, 76.5% of the adult population in the EU/EEA has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. This rate has not yet reached 50% in some countries. Too many adults are therefore still at risk of serious infections, says the ECDC.
“The forecasts are showing that a large number of new Covid-19 hospital admissions will be unvaccinated individuals, in particular unvaccinated individuals in risk groups. The current overall level of vaccination uptake in the EU/EEA will therefore be insufficient to limit the burden of Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations over the winter months, and countries with lower levels of vaccination are at higher risk”, the Centre also states in its assessment.
However, this vaccination gap cannot be closed quickly and therefore “gives ample room for the virus to spread”, the Centre also regrets.
Both the ECDC and the EMA therefore also recommend the reintroduction of non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as regular hand washing, maintaining physical distance and wearing a mask.
Not waiting for the situation to worsen will prevent the return of more restrictive measures such as lockdowns, Andrea Ammon stressed, calling on national authorities to make a communication effort to explain the importance of these measures.
Both Mrs Ammon and Mr Cavaleri also reminded us that it is all the more important to mobilise as we approach the holiday season, when more people will be travelling and gathering indoors.
To consult the ECDC risk assessment: https://bit.ly/3xih4qm (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)