--- title: E.U. Mounts Urgent Call for Covid-19 Boosters as Cases Rise description: European regulators are urging second booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines for people over 60 years old canonical: https://time.com/6195505/eu-covid-19-boosters/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-07-11T12:10:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:37:18.362Z article:section: Health og:title: E.U. Mounts Urgent Call for COVID-19 Boosters as Cases Rise Again og:description: European regulators are urging second booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines for people over 60 years old as cases and hospitalizations are again rising sharply og:url: https://time.com/6195505/eu-covid-19-boosters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fdf25ec5b088475/698a3390929fada449bf8cc2/GettyImages-1241477798.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: FRANCE-POLITICS-HEALTH-VIRUS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: E.U. Mounts Urgent Call for COVID-19 Boosters as Cases Rise Again twitter:description: European regulators are urging second booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines for people over 60 years old as cases and hospitalizations are again rising sharply twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fdf25ec5b088475/698a3390929fada449bf8cc2/GettyImages-1241477798.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # E.U. Mounts Urgent Call for COVID-19 Boosters as Cases Rise Again > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=ebee2ff8-e03e-4c69-b98f-98bbaced56c6&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Difference Between a Covid Spike and a Surge [Watch (HLS stream): The Difference Between a Covid Spike and a Surge](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/j83pb4lv.m3u8) (2:25)  _Published 2022-04-05. European regulators are urging second booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines for people over 60 years old_ by [Lyubov Pronina / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Lyubov Pronina / Bloomberg Contributor Jul 11, 2022 12:10 PM UTC by [Lyubov Pronina / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Lyubov Pronina / Bloomberg Contributor Jul 11, 2022 12:10 PM UTC European regulators are urging second booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines for people over 60 years old as cases and hospitalizations are again rising sharply. Recommendations from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Medicines Agency also include people with medical conditions that put them at high risk of severe disease, both agencies said in a [statement](https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/updated-ecdc-ema-statement-additional-booster-doses-covid-19-vaccines) on Monday. Weekly case rates among people age 65 and over increased 32% in 22 of the 24 reporting countries in the week ending July 3 compared to the previous week, according to an ECDC [statement](https://covid19-country-overviews.ecdc.europa.eu/index.html). The new recommendation follows guidance issued in April that called for people over 80 years old to be considered for a second booster. The new mRNA shots can be administered at least four months after the previous one. The agency said that, at present, there is no clear evidence to support giving a second booster to people under 60 who are not at higher risk of severe disease. “With cases and hospitalizations rising again as we enter the summer period, I urge everybody to get vaccinated and boosted as quickly as possible,” Stella Kyriakides, the E.U.’s health commissioner, said in the statement. “I call on member states to roll out second boosters for everyone over the age of 60 as well as all vulnerable persons immediately.” Separately, EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke said work is under way toward possible approval of vaccines adapted to counter newer variants in September. ## Transcript Spike, surge and uptick are used fairly interchangeably. I think many people in healthcare would view a surge as something that has the potential to overwhelm the healthcare system or threaten the capacity of hospitals in a given area. Whereas an uptick, or an increase, or spike in cases is usually used a little bit more casually just to suggest that case counts are rising. The ways that the U.S. has been predicting when a spike is coming, one of them is just looking to other parts of the world. Europe and particularly the U.K., has been a good predictor for the U.S. throughout the pandemic, they started to see Delta cases and Omicron cases rising a few weeks before we did. So, looking at what's going on in other countries is very valuable, as is looking at metrics like testing. If more cases are being reported and if a higher percentage of tests are coming back positive, those are both indications that there's more virus spreading in the community. Scientists and researchers all over the world are monitoring COVID, of course. Particularly looking for new variants as the virus continues to evolve. And a lot of those efforts are coordinated through the World Health Organization. But also, independent labs are scientists who are sequencing COVID samples to look for new variants, will often sound the alarm for the rest of the world when they start to notice either the viruses evolving or that a certain variant is spreading more rapidly in certain area. For example, before the Omicron surge, that news came out of South Africa originally and that kind of let the rest of the world know that they needed to be aware this variant was coming. During a spike in cases, I think we can keep doing the things that health experts have really been recommending for the last couple years. A lot of vaccine and mask mandates have rolled back recently but that doesn't mean that masking and vaccination are not still effective or still necessary in certain situations. So if case levels are rising, or very high in your area, you might want to wear protective masks like a N95. When you go out into indoor areas in public, you might want to limit the time that you spend in public indoor areas. You should stay up to date on booster shots as they're recommended for different demographics. And you can take advantage of that home tests to test yourself before you gather with others to make sure that you're not unknowingly infected with the virus. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6195505/eu-covid-19-boosters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6195505/eu-covid-19-boosters/"},"headline":"E.U. 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