The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine to combat the omicron variant of the coronavirus. As announced by the MHRA, this new vaccine “causes a strong immune response” both for the original variant of SARS-CoV-2, and for omicron, including the subvariants of omicron BA.4 and BA.5, and has some side effects ” low” and similar to those reported in the original Moderna vaccine.
The United Kingdom has thus become the first country to have approved this new version of the vaccine, which has been developed to serve as a booster dose directed 50% at the original strain of the coronavirus and the other 50% at the omicron variant. The country’s health authorities had already announced that as of September a booster vaccine would be offered to those over 50 years of age and individuals in risk groups, and now they have to decide if this drug will be one of those administered in these cases. .
Designed to combat the BA.1 variant of Omicron
Moderna’s new vaccine has been called mRNA-1273.214 and is capable of generating a powerful immune system response against two strains of the coronavirus. “I am pleased to announce the approval of the Moderna bivalent booster vaccine” to “provide a strong immune response against the BA.1 omicron variant as well as the original 2020 strain,” said June Raine, Executive Director of the MHRA. , which has referred to this drug as “a sharp tool in our arsenal to help protect us against this disease as the virus continues to evolve.”
Moderna’s new version of the COVID-19 vaccine provides “a strong immune response against the BA.1 omicron variant, as well as the original 2020 strain”
According to Moderna’s chief medical officer, Paul Burton, this updated version of the vaccine can raise a person’s antibody levels so high that they may only need to get one shot a year. Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, has defined it as a “next generation COVID-19 vaccine” that will play an “important role in protecting people in the UK against covid-19” during the winter.
June Raine has highlighted that, as has been done so far with all the vaccines that have been approved to combat COVID-19, also in this case the safety of this new version of Moderna will be monitored and monitored as to be administered to the population.
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