September is when countries should consider the need for rollout of further additional booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines in anticipation of further waves of infection that may arrive in the autumn/winter season.
This is what Philenews reported on Wednesday, citing preliminary public health considerations by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
However, it looks like health ministries along with advisory teams of coronavirus experts will ultimately make national decisions on the vaccines, taking into account the epidemiological situation in their countries.
And for the moment, a fourth dose under consideration applies to 60 plus individuals with underlying diseases and immunocompromised ones.
Deputy Professor of Pharmacology Christos Petrou said : “The new vaccine will be bivalent. That is, it will cover the original strain and an Omicron strain. Until now, they have focused on the “O1” strain, but now, the dominant strains are “O-4-O-5”.”
He added: “According to what emerges from the periodic updates of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the corresponding American organization (FDA ), we will first expect a bivalent vaccine with the original strain of the virus and “O-1” and perhaps towards the end of autumn another with the original strain and “O-4/5.”
