The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on Thursday, 1 July, that two doses of the COVID vaccines approved for use in the European Union appear to provide protection against the rapidly spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus, reported news agency AFP.
The assessment came in the wake of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recent warning that the Delta variant, which was first spotted in India, could add to a new wave of cases in Europe.The EMA’s head of vaccine strategy, Marco Cavaleri, said the Amsterdam-based watchdog was “aware of concerns caused by the rapid spread of the Delta variant.
Currently, the European Union has four COVID-19 vaccines authorized: those from Pfizer and BioNTech, AstraZeneca (MRNA.O) and Johnson & Johnson
The agency also reiterated that it had not received any application for authorization of Covishield, the version of AstraZeneca’s vaccine made by India’s Serum Institute, adding that it could approve or accept for use only those shots with ongoing applications.