(Reuters) -Britain’s health regulator on Wednesday approved a COVID-19 booster from Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech SE targeting the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants and the original coronavirus strain.
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the vaccine was approved for use as a booster dose in people aged 12 years and older after it was found to meet safety, quality and effectiveness standards.
“All approved COVID booster vaccines help to improve the protection obtained from earlier doses of the vaccine and help give longer-term protection against getting seriously ill from COVID-19,” according to the MHRA.
Pfizer and BioNTech last week said their so-called bivalent COVID-19 vaccine tailored for BA.4/5 produced a strong antibody response in older adults than the original shot after one month, and in October said it generated a strong immune response.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Shounak Dasgupta)
