EU regulator to accept COVID-19 shots targeted at older versions of Omicron
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The European Medicines Agency (EMA) plans to consider COVID-19 vaccines adapted to past subvariants of Omicron despite the rising prevalence of newer and more contagious versions of the strain, an official said Thursday.
EMAâs position contrasts with that of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which recently advised vaccine developers to modify their boosters to target newer BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants, which recently became the dominant forms of the virus in the U.S.
How quickly a vaccine updated for BA.4 and BA.5 could be made available is also a consideration, noted Marco Cavaleri, EMA's head of health threats and vaccines strategy.
"That's why for the time being we still think that it's very good to keep all options open and to not exclude any of these candidates from any potential approval," Reuters quoted Cavaleri as saying at a press briefing. EMA expects new COVID-19 vaccine boosters could be approved by September. 
mRNA-based vaccine makers, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech (BNTX) and Moderna (MRNA), have already reported clinical data for Omicron targeting shots, albeit with a lower efficacy for BA.4 and BA.5.
Novavax (NVAX), which is yet to receive U.S. regulatory clearance for its protein-based vaccine, plans to provide its Omicron-containing COVID-19 vaccine in 4Q 2022.