Half of Brits set to get Covid ‘super-booster’ vaccine designed to protect from Omicron as sub-strain cases surge

It is unofficially named 214 and uses mRNA molecules to programme the immune system to protect against two types of Covid – the original Wuhan strain and Omicron.

It comes as Omicron cases surge once again, with infection levels jumping by almost a third last week.

They still remain lower however, than peak figures from March.

Last Friday, the influential European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it believed Moderna’s new vaccine "may provide some advantages in widening the immune response" in recipients.

And it said "bivalent vaccines could be considered … for use as boosters".

Meanwhile, the company is already said to have held talks with UK health chiefs about dishing out the 214 jab.

Dr Paul Burton, chief medical officer at Moderna, said there is a "definite interest" from the UK in buying its new vaccine, the reports.

Last month, Moderna released positive results showing the so-called super jab gave strong protection against Omicron BA4 and BA5 – the two sub-variants that are driving the current wave of infection.

Dr Burton said: "I think the conclusions are that boosting … with 214, really could be a turning point in our fight against the SARS-Cov-2 virus."

It comes after survivors of the Omicron Covid wave were warned they won’t be able to fend off new strains of the bug circulating.

A study by Imperial College London found those who had previous Omicron illness were not immune to catching it again, including the older BA.1 and BA.2 versions, and newer BA.4 and BA.5 strains.

That’s despite the fact they had an immune boost against previous strains, such as Delta and Alpha.

Professor Danny Altmann, from Imperial’s Department of Immunology and Inflammation, said: “Not only can it break through vaccine defences, it looks to leave very few of the hallmarks we’d expect on the immune system.

“It's more stealthy than previous variants and flies under the radar, so the immune system is unable to remember it.”

However, he stressed vaccines are still protective against severe disease and death.