Following the global scare over the presence of the Omicron variant. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Thursday that cases of the Omicron variant spotted within the European Union appeared to be "mostly mild."

"We need to gather more evidence to determine whether the spectrum of disease severity caused by Omicron is different from all the variants that have circulated so far," said Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccine strategy at the Amsterdam-based EMA.
 No opinion has been issued yet by the EMA on the efficacy of vaccines against the variant, judging that there is "not enough data". "But we are continuously scanning the horizon to collect results in this regard," added Marco Cavaleri.

On Wednesday, the WHO had announced that the variant appeared to have a higher rate of reinfection, for people cured of the disease or vaccinated, while causing less severe symptoms. Anthony Fauci, the White House medical advisor, made the same observation earlier in the day. Pfizer and BioNTech emphasized the effectiveness of their current vaccine against the Omicron variant. However, a new formula is already in preparation.
 Currently, four vaccines and two antibody treatments have been approved by the EMA, which has also given the green light to the emergency use of the pill developed by the Merck laboratory. The agency also recently announced the launch of an accelerated review of the Covid vaccine from the Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva, which uses a more conventional technology than the vaccines authorized so far in the EU.