THE HAGUE, November 29./TASS/. The European Medicines Agency believes that it is premature now to speak about the need to adapt coronavirus vaccines to tackle the Omicron variant, EMA’s press office told TASS on Monday.
"EMA continuously monitors changes in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and their possible impact on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines," the press office said. "Current information is insufficient to determine if this variant is going to spread significantly causing hospitalisations and to what extent it may evade the immunity received with vaccines," it stressed.
"EMA considers it therefore premature at the moment to foresee the need for an adapted vaccine with a different composition in order to tackle this emerging variant," it said. "For the time being, the vaccines approved in the EU continue to offer a good level of protection against hospitalisation and death," the press office wrote.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the B.1.1.529 variant discovered in South Africa as a "Variant of Concern" and assigned it the Greek letter Omicron. This variant has a large number of mutations some of which alarm the WHO. Several changes at once in the spike protein can potentially hinder the neutralization of the pathogen by antibodies which may impact the effectiveness of vaccines. Additionally, according to preliminary reports, the strain has a heightened ability to spread. It has already been detected in some European countries, including in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. As a precautionary measure, a number of countries suspended air service with southern African countries.