The United Kingdom became the first country to approve a “double” vaccine against COVID-19, that is, one that covers both the original Wuhan form of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the latest, Omicron.
The updated vaccine, manufactured by the Moderna laboratory, is expected to be available as a booster in that country between the end of September and December.
It should be remembered that the first vaccines were designed to train the body to combat the variant that emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019. But since then, the virus has mutated, giving rise to other variants that can evade some of our immune defenses.
The goal of Moderna’s “bivalent vaccine” is to attack both the original variant and the first Ómicron variant (BA.1).
The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency analyzed the evidence of effectiveness of this vaccine and approved it for use in adults. The results of the studies on 437 people showed that the updated vaccine was safe and provided better immunological protection against the new variants.
In fact, as reported by the BBC, in tests carried out against the most recent variants of Ómicron (BA.4 and BA.5), causing the current wave of cases in the United Kingdom, higher levels of protection were also shown when He had the updated vaccine.
Stéphane Bancel, chief executive of Moderna, said: "This marks the first authorization of a bivalent Omicron vaccine. It has an important role to play in protecting people in the UK against COVID-19 as we head into the future." winter months.”
It is expected that in that country health personnel or those who care for others, people over 50 years of age and people at risk and those who live with them, will receive some type of reinforcement.
Moderna is not the only laboratory that sought to update its vaccines. Pfizer has also been working on the development of vaccines to attack the Omicron variant. Both are from the mRNA platform, which allows changes more quickly.
