The TGA has given the green light to the first COVID-19 vaccine in Australia to specifically target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants as well as the ancestral strain of the virus. 

The regulator said the updated Comirnaty bivalent vaccine was provisionally approved for use as a booster dose in patients aged 12 and over. 

“Evidence from extensive use in the US and Europe over recent months has also shown that this booster provides clear reductions in hospitalisation and death,” it said in a statement.  

The move follows the approval in late October of Pfizer’s Comirnaty original/BA.1 Omicron bivalent vaccine, and Australia’s first Omicron-specific bivalent vaccine, Moderna’s Spikevax, two months before that.