Filenews 9 September 2022 - by Marilena Panayi
On the one hand, the decision of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to proceed with the approval of the coronavirus vaccines that cover the original strain of the virus and the original strain of "Omicron", and on the other hand, the fact that through the centralized process the Member States began to receive quantities of this vaccine at a time when the EMA is expected to approve the even more up-to-date vaccine that will cover and the O4 and O5 sub-variants, led the EU into adventures.
In fact, as it emerges from an announcement by the Ministry of Health in Cyprus, during the informal meeting of the Ministers of Health the day before yesterday, it took a lot of time to convince the manufacturing companies that the next deliveries of quantities to the Member States must concern the vaccines that include O4 and O5, if of course they receive the necessary approval from the competent European Agency and this agreement, as mentioned was achieved after the intervention of the Ministers of Health of Cyprus and Greece.
Specifically, it was agreed that "in the event that new vaccines are licensed by a company that have increased efficacy in the new variants of the virus, then automatically all subsequent deliveries will concern the updated form of the vaccine. It was also agreed that Member States, in the event of reduced needs, would be able to carry over the allocated instalments to the following year.
At the same time and at a national level this time, the national advisory committee on vaccinations, decided yesterday to make a recommendation for the administration of the new vaccines to all people over 30 years of age, at a time when, as the competent European Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in her statements, the European recommendation concerns people 60 years and older. Specifically, the Commissioner referred to the recommendations issued by the competent health services for the use of adapted vaccines against COVID-19, and in particular to the recommendation to give priority to people over 60 and chronic patients, while at the same time, the Ministry of Health in Cyprus issued an announcement on the basis of which, the competent vaccination committee decided to recommend the administration of vaccines to people:
- Over 30 years old
- To people working in nursing homes and closed facilities regardless of age
- In healthcare professionals
- And in chronic patients
The Commission has further decided to recommend a booster/3rd dose to people aged 12 years and over. Condition that in all cases, the period of five months has elapsed since the previous one was received.
Information regarding administration of the vaccine will follow in due course.
