The Government Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has recently approved a new Covid-19 vaccine from Moderna, intended to target both the Delta and Omicron variants. Read on for more.
What Is It?
The new variant has been named Spikevax, and is intended to replace the existing Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, which is now nearly 2 years old. Spikevax is bivalent, which means that it can provide protection against both older Covid-19 variants, and the current Omicron variants. It can do this as it contains spike proteins (the part of the vaccine that the immune system uses) from both the original Covid-19 virus, and from the Omicron BA.1 variant.
The use of Spikevax has been approved by the MHRA for adults over the age of 18 only as a booster dose. This means that it will not be used as a primary or first vaccine dose, but this may change in the future. Currently, Spikevax it is not approved for children as there is only limited data available. Again, this may well change in the future as more data becomes available.
What Difference Will Spikevax make?
Spikevax is the first vaccine which is designed to prevent serious illness resulting from the Omicron variant of Covid-19. Omicron variants are still widely circulating in the population, such as BA.4 and BA.5 which caused the recent peak. Omicron variants may cause the autumn/winter wave of Covid which we are all expecting. While Spikevax is designed specifically for the BA.1 Omicron variant, it is expected to offer better protection against all Omicron variants than earlier vaccines. So, BuDS recommends that everyone accepts the offer of a Covid booster and accepts Spikevax if that’s the booster you are offered. Spikevax is a definite step forward in vaccine protection, so please take advantage of it.
However, like all Covid-19 vaccines, Spikevax is designed to reduce the chance of people getting very seriously ill or dying from Covid. It will not stop people catching Covid or getting moderately ill with Covid, and some people will still get very severely ill or die. We don’t know whether Spikevax will reduce your chances of getting post-Covid conditions like heart attacks, strokes or organ damage, and we don’t know how well it will protect against Long Covid. But your chances of serious Covid illness, of a post-Covid incident, or of developing Long Covid, are much higher if you are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated. So, while Spikevax is not complete protection, it is a great deal better than not getting boosted or vaccinated at all.
Vaccines should be used alongside other sensible precautions like using a filter (FFP2) mask and avoiding crowded indoor places. This is like wearing a seatbelt alongside driving carefully – wearing a seatbelt (getting a vaccine) won’t necessarily save you if you drive recklessly (ignore other Covid precautions).
Getting The Spikevax Vaccine
The Spikevax vaccine will be part of the Covid-19 booster program this autumn. This means it will initially be available to health and social care staff, people aged over 50, carers over the age of 18, people over 18 who are at extremely high risk from Covid-19, and anyone over 18 who shares a house with someone at extremely high risk. Even though the booster programs covers wider age groups than this, Spikevax is not rated for use in children, so not everyone will be offered it as their booster dose.
You should consult your doctor about receiving the Spikevax vaccine if you meet any of the following conditions:
- You have previously had a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction after any other vaccine injection or after you were given the Moderna vaccine in the past.
- You have a very weak or compromised immune system
- You have ever fainted following any needle injection.
- You have a bleeding disorder
- You have a high fever or severe infection; however, you can have your vaccination if you have a mild fever or upper airway infection like a cold
- You have any serious illness, including Covid-19
- If you have anxiety related to injections.
Side Effects and Safety
Spikevax has been fully tested and is as safe as any other medicine. As with any vaccine, there are common side effects that will be experienced by anybody who gets a dose, such as sore arm, headache or mild fever. These symptoms usually appear within 48 hours of the vaccine dose, and tend not to last longer than a few days at most.
A full list of the expected side effects is available here. If you experience any of them, you should speak to your doctor or call the NHS 111 phoneline for advice.
More Information
If you’d like to know more, please use the appropriate link below.
Our weekly Covid-19 risk assessment articles – https://buds.org.uk/category/our-work/iag-covid-19/risk-assessments/
All our Covid-19 articles – https://buds.org.uk/category/our-work/iag-covid-19/
The MHRA releases about the Spikevax vaccine – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulatory-approval-of-spikevax-bivalent-originalomicron-booster-vaccine