Moderna’s newest bivalent booster shot has been given the green light in the UK - and will start going into arms as part of their autumn booster program. Too bad it includes strains that have mutated out of existence.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- August 15, 2022, the U.K. became the first country to approve Moderna’s new bivalent COVID booster — Spikevax bivalent — which contains mRNA that codes for the original Wuhan strain spike protein and the Omicron BA.1 subvariant
- The approval of the new booster comes on the heels of complaints about lack of demand for the shots. Moderna recently threw away 30 million doses of its original COVID jab, as nobody wanted them, and the U.S., has tossed 82.1 million COVID jab doses in the trash for the same reason
- The Spikevax bivalent shot is already out of date, as both strains included are no longer in circulation anywhere in the world
- In the U.S., infections are currently caused by the BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.12.1 variants of Omicron. In Europe, Omicron BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 are the current “variants of concern.” BA.1 is on the list of “de-escalated variants,” meaning it’s of no concern either because it’s either not in circulation, or because it doesn’t cause severe illness
- Coronaviruses mutate very rapidly, and when you vaccinate against a rapidly mutating virus, you encourage it to mutate even faster, and to develop immune-evading properties. This is what we’ve been witnessing since the beginning of the COVID jab campaign, and outdated, leaky bivalent boosters may worsen the situation further
