EU may need Booster Shots to Prolong COVID-19 Immunity

Brussels, May 20 (Sputnik) European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said Thursday that the EU population will likely need a third vaccine dose to boost immune protection from the coronavirus.
“Being one step ahead means having access to booster vaccines to prolong immunity as well as… adapted vaccines needed to protect us against the threat of variants,” she told a news conference.
Kyriakides said EU health ministers, who met by video on Thursday, were looking toward the summer with cautious optimism, although she added that health officials were alarmed by the spread of variants overseas.
The European Council signed a third deal with Biontech and Pfizer for up to 1.8 billion doses of vaccines, including adapted ones. The first supplies will arrive at the end of the year. Only Hungary opted out.
Some 40% of people in the EU have received at least one dose and 17% have been fully vaccinated, with more than 20 million vaccinations taking place across the bloc every week, the commissioner estimated.