UK medicines regulator approves Covid vaccines for use as booster shots

Italy makes Covid vaccines mandatory for the over-50s

Italy makes Covid vaccines mandatory for the over-50s. Credit: Pixabay

UK medicines regulator approves Covid vaccines for use as booster shots. Both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines have now been approved for use as booster shots.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said that the booster shots have been approved on an emergency basis from Thursday. So far it is not yet known which groups of patients the booster shots have been approved for, but the MHRA has said that this decision will sit with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Dr June Raine, the MHRA’s chief executive, said: “We know that a person’s immunity may decline over time after their first vaccine course. I am pleased to confirm that the Covid-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca can be used as safe and effective booster doses.

“This is an important regulatory change as it gives further options for the vaccination programme, which has saved thousands of lives so far. It will now be for the JCVI to advise on whether booster jabs will be given and if so, which vaccines should be used.”

Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London believes this is a positive move and said: “By any standards this is good news,”

“As we see in daily breakthrough caseload, Delta has really stress tested our defences. While UK cases are held down to about 40,000 a day as we head into Autumn, there’s clearly little room for complacency. Data from Israel has already shown clearly that a third dose can enhance protection substantially to bring breakthroughs right down.”

In other coronavirus news, Spain supplies New Zealand with 250,000 extra vaccine doses in a bid to fight the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, has confirmed that an additional 250,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine are heading to New Zealand from Spain.

According to the Prime Minister the vaccines left Spain’s Madrid at around 1 AM New Zealand time. These are additional doses of the vaccine to those that have already been scheduled. This is just one of two deals that have been put in place and the second deal will be even larger.


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Alex
Written by

Alex Glenn

Originally from the UK, Alex is based in Almeria and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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