COVID-19: European Union advises second booster for people above 60 years

In response to a recent increase in infections and hospitalisations across Europe, the European Union health agencies on Monday (July 11), advised a second COVID-19 booster for everyone over 60 as well as medically fragile individuals. Despite the fact that the virus has changed, existing coronavirus vaccinations still offer substantial protection against hospitalisation and death. Since April, the most vulnerable and elderly people have only been advised to receive a second booster. The new advice is anticipated to make it easier for governments to speed up the vaccination programmes, Reuters reported.

In a statement, Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), said, "We are currently seeing increasing COVID-19 case notification rates and an increasing trend in hospital and ICU admissions and occupancy in several countries, mainly driven by the BA 5 sub lineage of the Omicron (coronavirus variant)." She said that providing the elderly and medically fragile a second boost now will prevent a sizable number of hospitalisation and deaths.

In order to tackle the BA.1 Omicron variant, vaccine manufacturers including Moderna Inc. and partners Pfizer Inc. and BioTech have been testing modified versions of their coronavirus vaccines. They observed a reduced immune response against BA.4 and BA.5, despite the fact that they claimed these vaccinations produced a good immune response against the variants.

The ECDC on Monday further said that currently there is no convincing evidence to recommend the administration of a second booster dosage to people younger than 60 years of age who are not at increased risk of severe infection.

(With inputs from agencies)

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