The United Kingdom, the first country in the world to approve a vaccine against the new coronavirus at the end of 2020, has now also given the first green light for immunity adapted to confront a variant, which targets both the original version of the virus. Micron strain.
On Monday (15), the British Medicines Regulatory Authority (MHRA) granted conditional approval to the so-called bivalent vaccine, made by the American laboratory Moderna, as a booster for adults.
The British Joint Committee on Immunization and Immunization (JCVI) is expected to issue a recommendation soon on how to roll out the vaccine in the country.
The MHRA’s decision was based on clinical trial data, which showed the booster elicited a “strong immune response” against Omicron (BA.1) and the original 2020 virus, according to the document.
In June, Moderna said trial data showed that when given as a fourth dose, the variable-modified vaccine increased antiviral antibodies against Micron by eightfold.
The regulator also cited an exploratory analysis concluding that the vaccine elicited a “good immune response” against the currently prevalent micron branches, BA.4 and BA.5.
According to Moderna, test data revealed that the dose-matched booster for the variant generated levels of antibodies against the sub-variants that were 1.69 times higher than those who received the original booster.
MHRA added that no serious safety concerns were identified with Moderna’s new formula.
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