The European Union drug regulator said Tuesday it will be prepared to approve a new COVID-19 vaccines targeting the Omicron variant within three to four months. European Medicines Agency (EMA) executive director Emer Cooke told the European Parliament that the EMA is prepared if pharmaceutical companies need to modify the existing COVID-19 vaccines for them to protect against Omicron. “Were there a need to change the existing vaccines, we could be in a position to have those approved within three to four months,” Cooke said. “Companies adapting their formulations to include the new sequencing … will then have to show that the production system works, they will then have to do some clinical trials to determine that this actually works in practice.” In a separate statement, the EMA clarified that the review will begin when drugmakers decide that modification to the vaccine is necessary and begin to work on that. …