Britain's medicines regulator announced on Saturday that it has approved a new generation of Pfizer/BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine targeting the Omicron variant.
This version of the vaccine consists of a so-called “ bivalent
” booster dose
, targeting half the original strain of the virus and half the Omicron variant (BA.1), MHRA said in a press release.
It "
has been approved for booster doses for adults by the MHRA which concluded that it meets the safety, quality and efficacy standards of the British regulator
", indicated the medicine agency, which specifies authorizing the vaccine for adults.
people aged 12 and over.
In mid-August, the United Kingdom became the first country to authorize a similar vaccine developed by the Moderna laboratory and also targeting Omicron, the most common variant in Europe.
The announcement comes as the country prepares to offer a booster dose of the Covid vaccine from Monday to millions of Britons in England and Scotland, including those over the age of 50 with priority given to people living in a retirement home.
“
I am happy to announce that we now have a second vaccine approved for the booster program this fall
,” said MHRA Director June Raine.
The new vaccines Pfizer and Moderna have been authorized in recent days by the United States and the European Medicines Agency.
They also target two subvariants of the rapidly spreading Omicron strain, BA.4 and BA.5.
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The United Kingdom is one of the countries most affected in Europe by the pandemic, with nearly 180,000 deaths since the start of 2020. While mortality has fallen sharply thanks to vaccination, the country regularly experiences large waves of contamination, but was one of the first in Europe to lift all restrictions last winter.
