BRIEF—Vaxzevria booster approved in Europe

In Europe, AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, Vaxzevria, has been granted approval as a third dose booster in adults, including for those who had mRNA-based jabs initially.

The company’s executive VP for biopharma, Mene Pangalos, said the outcome was “an important step towards our goal of providing continued protection against COVID-19 for all populations.”

He said: “Ensuring a longer duration of immune protection is essential to the long-term management of COVID-19 globally, and boosters can address the waning of protection over time that has been seen with all primary vaccine schedules to date.”

Vaxzevria is already authorized as a booster in the UK and several countries in Asia and Latin America, including a number of non-EU countries.