UK becomes first country in world to approve Moderna’s Omicron-specific Covid jab — with over-50s expected to be boosted with new vaccine in WEEKS
- UK drug regulators said the approval gave the country a new tool to fight Covid
- Comes as Britain plans to launch its autumn booster campaign in the next month
- Trial data suggests new jab is effective against Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5
The UK has become the first country in the world to approve an Omicron-specific Covid booster that could be rolled out this autumn as the nation prepares for a dire winter.
Made by Covid jab maker Moderna, the new vaccine has been designed to target Omicron specifically.
It differs from the current generation of vaccines that are based on the original Wuhan strain and are therefore less effective against newer versions of the virus.
UK regulators hailed the approval as providing a new ‘tool in the armoury’ against the ‘continually evolving’ foe.
While designed to target original Omicron variant BA.1 which ripped through the country at the end of 2021 Modern’s jab is also effective against BA.4 and BA.5.
These newer versions of the Omicron strain were behind a recent meteoric spike in Covid cases which has now in retreat.
The new Moderna vaccine is likely to be rolled out as part of the recently announced autumn booster campaign.
Britons over the age of 50 and those with medical condition which make them vulnerable to a Covid infection will start to be called for a booster next month.
Health officials are keen to get as many people jabbed as possible with the aim of keeping them out of hospital as the NHS reaches its seasonally busiest period.
A new Omicron specific jab made by Covid vaccine maker Moderna has been approved for us in the UK
Over-50s, residents and staff at care homes for older adults and frontline health and social care workers will be offered a Covid autumn booster. On top of these groups, five to 49-year-olds who are a clinical risk group, live with an immunosuppressed person or are carers will also be eligible
Chief executive of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, Dr June Raine, said the new jab offered a new weapon in the fight against Covid.
‘The first generation of Covid 19 vaccines being used in the UK continue to provide important protection against the disease and save lives,’ she said.
‘What this bivalent vaccine gives us is a sharpened tool in our armoury to help protect us against this disease as the virus continues to evolve.’
Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chair of the Commission on Human Medicines, a panel of experts which advises Government on drugs, said new vaccines were needed to keep up with Covid.
‘The virus, SARS-CoV-2, is continually evolving in order to evade the immunity provided by vaccines,’ he said.
NHS will send 2,500 patients to ‘virtual wards’ where they’ll be monitored remotely in bid to free-up 7,000 extra beds
NHS hospital patients will be sent home and monitored remotely as part of plans to free up capacity and avoid a winter crisis.
Health bosses want to create the ‘equivalent of 7,000 more beds’ within the next four months with 2,500 of them coming in the form of ‘virtual wards’.
This involve using mobile apps and and gadgets that can check oxygen and blood pressure remotely.
The proposals came as part of a raft of measures unveiled by NHS England today as part of winter resilience plan.
It follows figures, published last week, that showed emergency departments are at breaking point – with almost 30,000 people waiting 12-plus hours in A&E a day.
NHS data for July also showed the average ambulance wait for heart attack and stroke victims surpassed 59 minutes for only the second time ever.
The NHS average target for such emergencies is 18 minutes.
Ambulance waits for the most serious 999 calls last month hit a record high of nine-and-a-half minutes. The target is seven minutes.
It also took an average of 64 seconds for desperate Britons to get through to a 999 call handler last month.
NHS bosses announced today they will recruit extra 999 call handlers and expand volunteer numbers in the health service to help meet this level of demand.
‘This novel bivalent vaccine represents the next step in the development of vaccines to combat the virus, with its ability to lead to a broader immune response than the original vaccine.’
A Moderna trial of their new vaccine latest trial found it increased antibodies 5.4-fold against Omicron compared to the older vaccine.
Moderna’s chief executive Stéphane Bancel said the UK was taking the lead in using the latest advances to protect its people from Covid and end the pandemic.
‘This represents the first authorization of an Omicron-containing bivalent vaccine, further highlighting the dedication and leadership of the UK public health authorities in helping to end the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
‘This bivalent vaccine has an important role to play in protecting people in the UK from COVID-19 as we enter the winter months.’
Details on who will get the new Moderna jab or when have not yet been announced.
This will be decided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation following on from today’s announcement.
The committee previously said the autumn booster programme will offer a booster to the over-50s younger Britons with vulnerable conditions.
Other groups include care home and NHS staff and the household contacts of people who are immunosuppressed, like cancer patients.
Moderna has already created hundreds of millions of doses of its vaccine, meaning it could be rapidly distributed.
The most recent data for Covid show the recent summer wave of infections is rapidly collapsing.
Office for National Statistics analysts estimated 2.1million people in England were infected on any given day in the week up to July 26, the latest data available, the equivalent of roughly one in 25.
This was down 20 per cent on the 2.6million logged the previous week.
Infections also dropped in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for the first time in weeks, with experts hailing the ‘continued decreases’.
The Moderna jab will be subjected to the same safety monitoring as the original Covid jabs and boosters.
It is a bivalent vaccine meaning it contains material from both the original Covid strain and the Omicron variant.
Covid vaccines and the subsequent boosters to top up levels of immunity have been credited with saving millions of lives and allowing the UK to escape lockdown.
Imperial College London experts estimated in June that Covid jabs saved almost 20million lives globally during the first year of being dished out.
About 40million Britons have had three doses of a Covid vaccine according to the latest data., about 70 per cent of the eligible population.
News of Moderna’s approval comes just days after the NHS unveiled its plans to avoid a winter crisis.
The NHS will send some hospital patients home to be monitored remotely as part of plans to free up capacity and avoid a winter crisis.
Health bosses want to create the ‘equivalent of 7,000 more beds’ within the next four months with 2,500 of them coming in the form of ‘virtual wards’.
This involve using mobile apps and gadgets that can check oxygen and blood pressure remotely.
It follows figures published lase week that showed emergency departments are at breaking point – with almost 30,000 people waiting 12-plus hours in A&E a day.
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