European medicine agencies may allow the use of vaccines that are effective against two variants of the coronavirus, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said today, the Associated Press reported.

He said he expected the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to meet on September 1 to consider a vaccine that would protect against the original virus as well as the Omicron variant. The EMA is likely to meet again on September 27 to consider a combination vaccine against the original variant of the virus and the BA.5 subvariant, which is responsible for the recent surge in cases worldwide, Lauterbach added.

Germany has secured sufficient quantities of both vaccines and will be able to start delivering them to places the day after receiving permission, added the German minister.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the combination vaccines, also called "bivalent" or "multivalent," would allow booster doses to retain the proven benefits of the original coronavirus vaccines while providing additional protection against new variants.

Such an approach is used in flu vaccines, which are adjusted each year depending on the prevalent variants and can protect against four different flu strains.

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