The European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued several recommendations on Wednesday 19 October in favour of vaccines against Covid-19.
The EMA is recommending the authorisation of the bivalent Covid-19 vaccine (Spikevax) developed by the pharmaceutical company Moderna, adapted not only to fight the original SARS-CoV-2 strain, but also two of its sub-variants of concern: BA.4 and BA.5. This vaccine is intended for people over 12 years of age who have already completed a first vaccination schedule.
This is the second Spikevax vaccine to receive a positive recommendation from the EMA, as the first, adapted against the BA.1 sub-variant, was already authorised in September (see EUROPE 13012/23).
Furthermore, the EMA recommends extending the use of the vaccine against the original SARS-CoV-2 strain developed by Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) to children aged six months to four years and extending the use of the same type of vaccine developed by Moderna to children aged six months to five years. Both vaccines are already authorised for use in adults as well as children from 5 years of age for Comirnaty and children from 6 years of age for Spikevax. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)