The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has stated there is "no urgent need" for fully vaccinated people to receive booster shots, in a joint statement.
However, they say, "additional doses should already be considered for people with severely weakened immune systems as part of their primary vaccination."
The two European Health Agencies said evidence on vaccine effectiveness and duration of protection shows that all vaccines authorised in the EU/EEA are currently highly protective against COVID-19-related hospitalization, severe disease and death, while about one out of three adults in the EU/EEA over 18 years is, still currently, not fully vaccinated.
The agencies say it is still important to maintain measures such as physical distancing, hand and respiratory hygiene, and using face masks where needed, in particular in high-risk settings such as long-term care facilities or hospital wards with patients at risk of severe COVID-19.
‼️ EMA & @ECDC_EU highlight that there is no urgent need for the administration of booster doses of #COVID19vaccines to fully vaccinated individuals in the general population.
— EU Medicines Agency (@EMA_News) September 2, 2021
Read the 3rd joint statementon considerations for additional & booster doses
https://t.co/OXQkNMRJan pic.twitter.com/QaYbZMbHEV
They went on to say that it is important to distinguish between booster doses for people with normal immune systems and additional doses for those with weakened immune systems, and that some studies report that an additional vaccine dose can improve the immune response in immunocompromised individuals.
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