Germany's Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has said he expected the roll-out of a vaccine specifically against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus would be delayed for months, until autumn.

Speaking as he went into a Brussels meeting of EU health ministers, Lauterbach said: “September could be the target month.”

The EU relies mostly on mRNA Covid vaccines, particularly the one developed jointly by German firm BioNTech with US giant Pfizer.

The delivery of Omicron-specific vaccines had been expected early this year, according to an AFP report.