The European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorized this Thursday the VidPrevtyn Beta vaccine, developed by the French laboratory Sanofi Pasteur, as a booster dose against covid-19 in adults already vaccinated with an mRNA preparation or adenoviral vector.
(Keep reading: Covid-19: reinfections increase the risk of organ failure and death)
The EMA began evaluating Sanofi Pasteur’s license application last March, but now its experts have concluded that they have sufficiently solid data on the quality, safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine to recommend its authorization marketing in the European Union (EU).
(You may be interested in: ‘Tripledemic’: why is it a threat to health systems in America?)
“A booster dose of VidPrevtyn Beta is expected to be at least as effective as Comirnaty (trade name of the Pfizer vaccine) in restoring protection against COVID-19,” the EMA said.
This vaccine is based on a laboratory-grown version of the spike protein found on the surface of the Beta variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus and contains an “adjuvant,” a substance that helps strengthen immune responses to the vaccine. .
The most common side effects seen with this vaccine were pain at the injection site, headache, muscle or joint pain, malaise, and chills, but these were usually mild and went away within a couple of days after vaccination .
The EMA will now send its recommendations to the European Commission, which is the one who has the last word on the authorization of vaccines in the European Union. If Sanofi Pasteur’s is authorized, the EU would have vaccines for covid-19 developed by a total of seven pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer, Valneva, Novavax, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen), although the EMA also keeps the data from three other vaccines: the Spanish Hipra, the Russian Sputnik and the Chinese Vero Cell, which have not yet been able to apply for their license.
(Also read: The WHO maintains the covid emergency in the face of the uncertain evolution of the virus)
The one that has already requested the support of the EMA for a European license is the SK Chemicals laboratory for its Skycovion vaccine, but it is still being studied and there is no date for its approval.
More health news
#EMA #endorses #French #Sanofi #vaccine #booster #adults