UK government advises additional covid booster vaccine for autumn

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised the use of an additional bivalent vaccine for the autumn booster campaign in the fight against covid.

Studies indicate the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine produces a marginally higher immune response against some variants than the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine.

‘Bivalent’ vaccines have been developed by global manufacturers since the emergence and dominance of the Omicron variant, the UK government confirmed on Saturday, September 3.

These vaccines are targeted against antigens (substances that induce an immune response) from 2 different COVID-19 strains or variants.

The UK government have confirmed that all of the available booster vaccines offer very good protection against severe illness from COVID-19.

As more vaccines continue to be developed, the JCVI committee will consider their use in the autumn programme.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of COVID-19 immunisation on the JCVI, said:

“It is very encouraging that more vaccines continue to become available and we now have another option to add to the vaccines already advised for the autumn booster campaign.”

He added: “Winter is typically the time of greatest threat from respiratory infections.”

“We strongly encourage everyone who is eligible to have their booster vaccine this autumn when it is offered. This is our best defence against becoming severely ill from COVID-19.”

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