The UK became the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine targeting both the original virus and the Omicron variant.
The British medicines agency MHRA has approved the so-called bivalent vaccine from the US company modern as a booster dose for adults.
The agency’s decision is based on clinical studies showing that the booster vaccine produced a “strong immune response” against the Omicron variant (BA.1) and the original virus from 2020.
“What this bivalent vaccine gives us is a powerful new tool in our arsenal to better protect us from this disease as the virus continues to evolve,” MHRA chief executive June Raine said in a statement.
The MHRA also cited a preliminary study that found that injection also elicited an immune response against Omicron’s offshoots BA.4 and BA.5currently dominant.
Outside of Moderna, Pfizer Inc and its partner BioNTech have also been testing versions of their mRNA vaccine modified to target Omicron variants.
Meanwhile, Sanofi and its partner GSK are working on a protein-based vaccine targeting the beta subvariant, which has been dominant for part of the last year.