The European Union's medicines regulator will decide on Monday whether to approve Pfizer's Covid-19 booster vaccine, but it is unlikely to give precise guidance on who should receive it, according to an internal document and two officials.
If the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gives its backing for the jab, the EU would join the United States, the UK and Israel which have already received the green light to deploy boosters, even though there is no consensus among scientists that they are necessary. "On 4 October the EMA will deliver an opinion on the need for Pfizer boosters for the general population," the EMA's head Emer Cooke told EU lawmakers in an internal meeting yesterday, according to minutes of the discussion seen by Reuters.