Booster vaccines for new variants could be ready ‘in weeks’

Booster Covid-19 vaccines could be approved in just a fortnight to tackle new variants, the UK’s medicines regulator has said.

Clinical trials – which take months – will not be re-run so the jabs can be fast-tracked, said The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Guidance states vaccine manufacturers will only need to show robust evidence that the modified jabs are safe and trigger an immune response.

Vaccines that have already been given the green light but need modifying to cope with new variants will not need ‘brand new approval’ – meaning they can be manufactured in as little as two months.

MHRA chief executive Dr June Raine: ‘We believe that with that approach the MHRA approval step will be done in a very efficient manner, as short as a couple of weeks.

‘We do believe developers are already well on the case.’

Dr Raine told a briefing this morning that the guidelines are similar to those which permit flu jabs to be modified every year.

‘Of course there will be checks on manufacture, on safety, on quality, but we will be using the approach that’s been very successful for flu jabs,’ she said.

‘Every year there’s a tried and tested regulatory process for the seasonal flu vaccines so that they match the strains circulating each year.’

This is a breaking news story, more to follow…