A new Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine specifically targeting new, more contagious types of the Covid-19 Omicron variant is expected to arrive in Lithuania in October, the Health Ministry has said.
“The first shipment of the vaccine against the BA.4 and BA.5 coronavirus sub-variants will reach Lithuania in early October,” Tomas Bagdonas, an adviser to the health minister, said.
The initial batch will consist of about 130,000 vaccine doses, he said.
Last week, Lithuania received its first doses of an updated vaccine effective both against the original strain of the virus, first detected in China’s Wuhan in 2019, and against the Omicron sub-variant BA.1.
The Pfizer-BioNTech jab directed at the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants was approved by the European Medicines Agency on September 12.
The decision came 11 days after the watchdog approved vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna against the original Omicron variant. (LRT/Business World Magazine)