VALN - EU recommends second COVID boosters for ages 60-79

The health authorities in the EU have recommended a second COVID-19 booster shot for those aged 60 – 79 and medically vulnerable people who are at high risk of severe disease, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in a statement on Monday.

In April, The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the EMA recommended a second booster for people over the age of 80.

‘We are currently seeing increasing COVID-19 case notification rates and an increasing trend in hospital and ICU admissions and occupancy in several countries mainly driven by the BA 5 sublineage of Omicron,’ noted Dr Andrea Ammon, the Director of ECDC.

“We need to remind people of the importance of vaccination from the very first shot to the second booster. We have to start today,” Dr. Ammon added.

The agencies said the second booster could be administered at least four months after the previous one with a focus on those who have received the first booster over six months ago.

COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer ( NYSE: PFE )/BioNTech ( BNTX ), Moderna ( MRNA ), Novavax ( NVAX ), AstraZeneca ( AZN ), Johnson & Jonson ( JNJ ) are authorized for use in the EU.

Recently, Valneva ( VALN ) received regulatory nod in the region for its whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine for  primary vaccination of people from 18 to 50 years of age.

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