Photo: Evija Trifanova / LETA
22:00, November 30, 2021
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Emera Cook, head of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said on Tuesday that the agency was ready to deal with the new South African or omicron version of Covid-19.
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Cook said it would take two weeks to see if the current Covid-19 vaccines could handle the omicron strain.
If a new vaccine is needed to fight the omicron strain, it will take about four months to be approved in the EU.
“We are prepared,” Cook said to European Union (EU) lawmakers, adding that EZA was already working with the medical industry to prepare for the possibility.
“We know there will be a mutation at some point, which means we need to change our current approach,” Cook said.
Cook has been more confident about the omicron strain than the World Health Organization (WHO), which warned on Monday that the global risk posed by the strain is very high and could lead to a sharp rise in the number of people with serious consequences.
More and more countries around the world are reporting cases of omicron or restricting air traffic as scientists try to find out how dangerous it can be.
The highest incidence of omicron is found in and around the South African cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Cook pointed out that in Europe, where the population is older and vaccination coverage is higher, the situation could be very different.
She said it was important to assess whether the vaccines currently available provided protection against the new variant. “It’s a process that takes about two weeks,” Cook said.
So far, the vaccines have been effective against all the variants they have encountered, Cook said. She added that if the vaccines needed to be adapted, she could say that ESA was working with companies and other agencies to make sure “we are as prepared as possible”.
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