The British medicines regulator announced this Saturday that it had approved a new generation of the Covid-19 vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer/BioNTech aimed at the Ómicron variant.
In a statement, the British regulator added that this version of the vaccine consists of a so-called “bivalent” booster dose, targeting half of the original strain of the virus and half of the Omicron variant (BA.1).
“It was approved for adult booster doses by the British regulator, which concluded that it meets safety, quality and efficacy standards,” says the Medicines agency, which says it licenses the vaccine for adults.
In mid-August, the United Kingdom became the first country to authorize a similar vaccine developed by the Moderna laboratory and also directed at Ómicron, the most common variant in Europe.
The announcement of this decision comes at a time when the country is preparing to offer a booster dose of the covid vaccine from Monday to millions of citizens in England and Scotland, including those over 50, with priority to people living in nursing homes.
“I am pleased to announce that we now have a second vaccine approved for the booster schedule this fall,” said Drug Agency Director June Raine.
The new vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were authorized in recent days by the United States and the European Medicines Agency. Both vaccines also target two rapidly spreading Omicron sub-variants: BA.4 and BA.5.
The United Kingdom is one of the countries most affected in Europe by the pandemic, with almost 180,000 deaths since the beginning of 2020.
Although mortality has been dramatically reduced as a result of vaccination, the UK is regularly hit by large waves of pollution. However, it was one of the first in Europe to lift all restrictions last winter.
Source: TSF
