Pfizer seeks EMA approval to give modified Covid vaccine jabs to children

The makers of the Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine want their modified version of the vaccine to be approved for use by children from 5 to 11 years of age in the European market. The base version of the vaccine has already been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The new version has been adapted to prevent serious symptoms of Covid-19 caused by infection from newer variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The vaccine version is more effective at preventing illness from the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants of the virus. It was already approved for use by people 12 years and up in Europe.

This week, Comirnaty producers Pfizer and BioNTech requested new approval from both the EMA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Pfizer said in a press release. They want their new version of the vaccine to get approval as a booster dose of 10 micrograms.

Currently, the BA.5 variant is most common in the Netherlands. It has been dominant in the country since June, the RIVM said. A subvariant of BA.4, known as BA.4.6, is becoming more dominant, as is BA.2.75. One or both could become the dominant subvariants in the Netherlands later this year.