Combination COVID booster targeting Omicron approved in U.K.

Moderna vaccine vial
(Image credit: Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The United Kingdom is now the first country to authorize a COVID-19 booster shot that targets both the highly-infectious Omicron variant as well as the original virus strain from early in the pandemic, CNN reports Monday.

The so-called "bivalent" shot, which is an updated version of the one made by Moderna, was approved for adults by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency "after it was found to meet the U.K. regulator's standards of safety, quality and effectiveness," said an official government release. "No serious safety concerns were identified."

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.