COVID-19 Vaccines Targeting XBB Strains Selected in Europe

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) today issued a joint statement on adapted COVID-19 vaccines and considerations for their use during the upcoming 2023 vaccination campaigns.

In line with the outcome of meetings of international regulators and the World Health Organization (WHO) in May 2023, the EMA’s Emergency Task Force recommended on June 6, 2023, updating COVID-19 vaccines to target XBB strains (a subgroup of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron strain), which have become dominant in Europe.

The EMA and ECDC also noted that monovalent vaccines (targeting only one strain) are a reasonable choice to protect people against dominant and emerging coronavirus strains.

Other COVID-19 vaccine news is posted by Precision Vaccinations.