The European Union’s medicines regulator urged Europe to prepare for a new wave of the Covid pandemic as cold winter months arrive. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said, “Over the last weeks we have not seen a major increase in Covid-19 case rates in the EU as a result of rising immunity following vaccinations and natural infections.”
However, this could change rapidly as we are getting into the cold winter months. This virus is maintaining a fast pace in its evolution and new subvariants of Omicron like BQ 1.1 and its offsprings are on the rise and replacing Omicron BA.5. These strains show an increased propensity for immune evasion and growth advantage.
Vaccine booster uptake in the last few months has been rather disappointing, with the European average rate at only 29% in people at highest risk, including those aged above 60 with chronic conditions and immunocompromised. The risk of severe Covid cases increases exponentially with age above 60. The older you are, the more you are at risk and vaccines can save your life.
It is said by the EMA chief medical officer that there are still a lot of circulating viruses out there, and their potential to spread, particularly among unvaccinated vulnerable people, is still large. Finally, stressing the importance of vaccination and revaccination, especially for vulnerable groups, he said that he would still consider the pandemic being on.