AstraZeneca’s COVID jab has been approved in the EU as a booster or third jab, the British pharma giant confirmed on Monday. The European Medicines Agency, the European Union’s medicines regulator, disclosed the news on Thursday.

“The EU EMA has approved AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine Vaxzevria as a third booster dose for adults,” the company said. “Healthcare professionals can now use Vaxzevria as a third booster dose for patients previously vaccinated with Vaxzevria or the EU-approved mRNA Covid-19 vaccine primary vaccine regimen.”

It added that the EMA concluded that there was “substantial evidence of enhanced immune responses following the third booster with Vaxzevria”. During the pandemic, AstraZeneca partnered with Oxford University to rapidly develop a successful Covid-19 vaccine.

The group announced last month that sales of Vaxzevria quadrupled to $1.15 billion in the first quarter, a 40 per cent decline, even as the pandemic in Europe was 40 per cent contained by a vaccine. But AstraZeneca also warned in April that Covid revenue, including Vaxzevria, would fall this year as the health crisis subsides.