The European Commission has approved two corona vaccines adapted to the omicron variant. This was announced by the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, on Twitter on Friday. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) had previously issued a corresponding recommendation. On Thursday, experts from the authority gave the green light to applications from Biontech/Pfizer and the US company Moderna. According to Kyriakides, the commission made its decision just a few hours later. Approval by the Commission was considered very likely.
The vaccines are bivalent mRNA preparations that protect against the original Sars-CoV-2 and against the omicron subline BA.1. A recommendation from the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) for Germany is still pending. Although BA.1 no longer plays a role in this country, experts assume that the new vaccines also have an advantage over the currently dominant BA.5 subtype.
