Great Britain was the first country in the world to approve the vaccine against the Omicron strain of the coronavirus.The British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) reported that the drug was developed by the American company Moderna. It is a bivalent vaccine, that is, half of its dose is directed at the original strain of the coronavirus, the other half at Omicron. It is planned to be used as a booster dose for adults. Clinical trials have shown that the bivalent vaccine creates an immune response to several variants of the Omicron strain, and its side effects were the same as those of Moderna’s original coronavirus vaccine: mild and did not require medical intervention , the MHRA said.

The new bivalent vaccine is the next step in the development of drugs to fight the coronavirus, as it is able to induce a broader immune response than the original vaccine, said the head of the Medicines Commission, Munir Pirmohamed.The Financial Times reports that Moderna has begun developing a vaccine against the Omicron strain in late 2021. In addition to the UK, she has applied for the drug’s registration in the EU, Australia and Canada. Delivery of the first doses of the bivalent vaccine is planned for the next two weeks, Moderna said.Previously, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had already recommended vaccine manufacturers to update their drugs, but they have not yet been registered: the agency decided to wait for full clinical data against various lines of Omicron.