The European Medicines Agency and other global health regulators said on Friday that Coronavirus vaccines improved protection against emerging variants including the Omicron when used as a booster. 

After a meeting on Thursday, the EMA reported that international regulators had reached consensus on fundamental ideas for revising COVID-19 injections to address new variants. The researchers claimed that although the current coronavirus vaccinations continue to offer effective protection against hospitalization and mortality, vaccine efficacy has decreased as the virus has changed. According to the EMA, a booster that is Omicron-specific or bivalent that contains both the original Coronavirus strain and the new strain of the virus can "enhance and extend" protection.

The claim explicitly mentions Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc., both of which have been testing modified versions of their vaccines that incorporate the Omicron variant. According to the statement, vaccines that contain additional variants, such as the Beta variant, may also be used as boosters if clinical trial results show a sufficient level of neutralization against Omicron and other variants of concern. It is in line with the guidance from the WHO which mentions that Omicron-specific boosters may be able to reestablish protection against new coronavirus strains. EMA has assured the Food and Drug Administration′s (FDA) request for more information regarding vaccine effectiveness against the more recent Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 strains. (Reuters, July 02, 2022)