European experts say existing booster vaccine 'better than no vaccine' at all

There are concerns that existing vaccines will be ineffective against emerging strains like EG.5, also known as Eris, Report informs, citing DW.

It was reported that COVID-19 is no longer officially a global health emergency.

That so-called "risk evaluation" for EG.5 seemed to prompt a New York Times article to suggest readers would be "a lot better off" if they waited "another month or two" to allow for an updated vaccine to be approved, instead of getting whichever boosters were available now.

First, they say that "antibodies produced by the updated vaccine may not be quite as effective against [EG.5]." Then, they say, "the new booster is still a better fit for EG.5 than last year's booster."

"It's better to have the current vaccine than wait for an improved one," Paul Hunter, an emerging infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, UK. Wait for a new vaccine, said Hunter, and you increase the risk of serious COVID infection from a current variant.