EMA chief says EU is ready to deal with new omicron variant

The European Union’s medical agency chief said Tuesday that it is ready to deal with the new omicron variant, and that it will take two weeks to have an indication whether the current COVID-19 vaccines will be able to deal with it

BRUSSELS -- The European Union’s medical agency chief said Tuesday that it is ready to deal with the new omicron variant, and that it will take two weeks to have an indication whether the current COVID-19 vaccines will be able to deal with it.

Emer Cooke, the Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency, said that if it does require a new vaccine to counter omicron, it will take up to four months to have it approved for use in the 27-nation bloc.

“We are prepared,” Cooke told EU lawmakers, adding that cooperation with the medical industry is already ongoing to prepare for such an eventuality. “We know that at some stage there will be a mutation that means we have to change the current approach.”

Cooke sounded more reassuring than the World Health Organization, which warned Monday that the global risk from the omicron variant is “very high,” saying the mutated coronavirus could lead to surges with “severe consequences.”