AstraZeneca PLC on Monday announced its Covid-19 vaccine Vaxzevria has received approval from the EU to be used as a third-dose booster jab.

People in the EU who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 with Vaxzevria or an EU-approved mRNA vaccine are eligible for Vaxzevria as a third-dose booster, the Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical company said.

Currently, the EU has approved two mRNA vaccines against Covid, Spikevax by Moderna Inc and Comirnaty by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE. Other approved EU vaccines are the adenovirus-based Jcovden vaccine by Johnson & Johnson, and Nuvaxovid, a protein-based vaccine from Novavax Inc.

‘Today’s marketing authorisation for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as a third-dose booster is an important step towards our goal of providing continued protection against Covid-19 for all populations,’ said Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of AstraZeneca’s BioPharmaceuticals research & development unit.

‘Ensuring a longer duration of immune protection is essential to the long-term management of Covid-19 globally, and boosters can address the waning of protection over time that has been seen with all primary vaccine schedules to date.’

More than 65% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, Astra noted, but it said that the completion of primary vaccine schedules - usually two jabs - and ensuring everyone gets a third-dose booster remain a challenge.

AstraZeneca shares were 0.5% higher at 10,542.00 pence each in London on Monday morning.

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