A modified version, to better protect against the Omicron variant. The European Commission reserved, Tuesday, August 9, with the American biotech Moderna, 15 million additional doses of the new version of its vaccine against Covid-19. It should be noted that these doses are part of the overall order for 460 million doses placed with the American firm, on behalf of the Twenty-Seven, by the Commission since the start of the pandemic.
However, the agreement reached by the Commission remains subject to the green light from European regulators, “subject to marketing authorization (in the EU) within a time frame that would allow the use of these doses for vaccination campaigns” this fall and winter, according to a press release. For its part, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), regulator of the sector, announced in mid-June that it had begun to examine this new version.
“Better respond to the needs of Member States”
Brussels also announced that it had reached an agreement with Moderna to once again adjust the schedule, this time by postponing to September and during the autumn and then the winter the supply of doses whose delivery was initially scheduled for this summer.
It’s about “to better respond to the needs of the Member States” this fall and winter, “when they are more likely to need additional stocks for their national (vaccination) campaigns and the fulfillment of their international solidarity commitments”explained the Commission.