(Reuters) – The European Union’s drug regulator said on Thursday it would support a filing for approval of an upgraded COVID-19 vaccine targeting only the new Omicron variant if that is the quickest way to broaden the offering of available shots.
Speaking to journalists in a briefing, the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) head of vaccines strategy, Marco Cavaleri, reiterated that he encouraged pharmaceuticals companies to explore not only a monovalent shot tailored to the Omicron variant but also versions that address a combination of variants.
Testing several vaccines in clinical trials would be “the most robust way forward”, said Cavaleri.
“But at the same time if an Omicron monovalent vaccine can be put into clinical trials rapidly. I think we can only support that.”
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Manojna Maddipatla; editing by Jason Neely)
