The TGA has given Australia’s first Omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine the go-ahead, granting Moderna’s new bivalent vaccine conditional approval as a booster.

The vaccine, which targets the ancestal strain of SARS-CoV-2 plus the BA.1 Omicron variant, is approved for patients aged 18 or older, the TGA said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Compared with the original Moderna vaccine, the bivalent version triggered a superior immune response against Omicron BA.1, while early data suggested it also generated a higher immune response against sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5.

An ongoing study showed the new bivalent vaccine had a similar safety and reactogenicity profile to the original Spikevax booster, when given as a second booster dose, the regulator added.