(Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will likely decide in early October whether to endorse a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be given half a year after the initial two-shot course.

       "The outcome of this evaluation is expected in early October, unless supplementary information is needed," the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) head vaccines strategy, Marco Cavaleri, told a press briefing on Thursday.

       Reuters reported earlier in the day that EMA expects to come to a conclusion on booster doses in early October.

       (Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka and Ludwig Burger;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)