Germany: EU could OK combined COVID vaccines next month

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s health minister says European Union drug regulators may authorize the use of vaccines that are effective against two variants of the coronavirus. German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he expected the European Medicines Agency to meet Sept. 1 to consider a vaccine that would provide protection against the original virus and the omicron variant. He says the EU agency would likely meet again on Sept. 27 to review a combined vaccine against the original virus and omicron offshoot BA.5, which is responsible for the latest global surge in COVID-19 cases.Germany has procured sufficient amounts of both vaccines and would be able to start rolling them out a day after they received authorization, he said.