European Medicines Agency says too early to determine need of COVID booster shot

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on July 9 said that it is too early to determine whether COVID vaccines' third dose, a booster vaccine shot, after the current two vaccine shots, would be called for. They said they were confident for now that the established requirement of 2 doses is enough. Meanwhile, on July 8, Pfizer and BioNTech released plans to ask European and United States regulators to authorize a booster dose after the two vaccine shots. This plan was made on the account of evidence of a higher risk of infection six months post-inoculation and the new variant of COVID-19, named Delta variant.

Is a third dose of COVID vaccine needed?

As per reports, WHO said that they won’t know about the requirement of an additional booster shot being administered until more data has been collected, but that it is under consideration by researchers. They also said that there is limited data available on how long the vaccine doses last and whom a booster shot would be beneficial for. However, Pfizer-BioNTech plans to ask FDA for approval for COVID vaccines' third dose, after 6-8 months of the second dose, after they have more data in hand. 

European Medicines Agency warns against J&J & AstraZeneca for certain individuals 

As per the European Medicines Agency's Twitter handle, the European Medicines Agency has also recommended the addition of heart inflammation as a possible side effect of mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. They said that myocarditis and pericarditis must be listed as possible side effects of both vaccines. As per the research of the US health officials, cases of these heart issues tend to occur within 14 days of getting the vaccine, and more often in men, and after the second dose, usually. They also advised people with Capillary Leak Syndrome (CLS), a certain rare blood disorder to avoid getting the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. A request has been made for CLS to be added as a side effect in AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as well, along with a warning for Guillain-Barre syndrome. Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca both use different versions of a cold virus for making COVID-19 proteins to produce an immune response.

(IMAGE: AP)