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Germany’s health minister said on Friday that the European Union’s drug regulator may approve the use of vaccines, each effective against two variants of the coronavirus.
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach hopes the European Medicines Agency will meet on Sept. 1 to consider a vaccine that offers protection against the original virus and the Omicron variant, also known as BA.1. said there is.
EU agencies will meet again on September 27 to consider a combination vaccine against the original virus and the BA.5 variant responsible for the recent global surge in COVID-19 cases, Lauterbach said. likely to
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Germany has procured enough vaccines for both, he said, to start rolling out the day after they are licensed.
The combination vaccine, known as a “bivalent” or “multivalent” shot, allows boosters to retain the proven benefits of the original coronavirus vaccine while offering additional protection against new variants, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. says.
Such an approach is used in influenza vaccination. Vaccination can be adjusted annually according to the circulating variant and protect against four influenza strains.
Lauterbach, a trained epidemiologist, said it was still likely that the coronavirus would continue to mutate.
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“There are still so many subspecies that could arise,” he said, adding that there are many around the world, including among people with weakened immune systems that allow the virus to persist for months. It was pointed out that the infection of