A NEW Covid jab has been given the green light for use in the UK – and raises hope of less boosters in the future. 

The jab, developed by Valneva, has been approved by the drug regulators at the MHRA. 

The MHRA said it is the first in the world to approve the Valneva product, called VLA2001, and it is the sixth in Britain’s Covid jab repertoire.

The UK had been due to receive 100 million doses of the jab from the French firm, but the Government cancelled the deal in September due to a “breach of obligations”.

Clinical trials in 2021 showed the Valneva jab, which is given in two doses, was highly effective and safe.

It is an inactivated virus vaccine, the most traditional type that has been used for flu and polio jabs, which may tempt people who are vaccine hesitant. 

And, because it uses the whole virus – rather than just the spike protein like other jabs – Valneva’s vaccine may be more useful against future Covid variants.

VLA2001 showed “superior” protection when compared to the AstraZeneca vaccine, the French firm said.

Study participants had around 40 per cent higher neutralising antibody titer levels in a head-to-head trial, and had fewer side-effects.

The company also said VLA2001 induced broad T-cell responses, a part of the immune system believed to be involved in long-term immunity.

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Experts said when immunity is higher, duration of protection may last longer.

Dr Peter English, Retired Consultant in Communicable Disease Control, said at the time Valneva’s results were published: “The benefit of additional levels of antibody is more in terms of the expected duration of protection.  

“If there is a threshold level above which you are protected, the higher the level induced by vaccination, the longer it is likely to be (since antibody levels decay in an approximately linear way) until you lose immunity to infection.”

It raises hopes that with jabs such as Valneva’s in the UK’s armour against Covid, boosters may be needed in fewer frequencies.

So far, Brits have been invited for their boosters only six months after their most recent dose due to waning immunity.

Ministers have previously spoken of hopes to have an "annual booster programme".

Booster trials

However, where VLA2001 will fit into the booster programme, if at all, is not yet clear.

People who were given two doses of VLA2001 had “significantly” raised immunity after a third dose, studies showed.

The top-up was given seven to eight months after a second one, the firm said after studies.

But in December, a British study showed VLA2001 offered very little boost in immunity when given to people previously immunised with Pfizer – which constitutes a huge proportion of Brits.

In response, Valneva claimed that participants had been given booster doses after a shorter interval than usual.

It added that inactivated virus vaccines such as VLA2001 typically require longer between gaps to be effective.

The company is studying how effective VLA2001 will be as a booster with a longer interval after first and second doses with other jabs.

MHRA approval had been expected in November 2021, Valneva had said.

But in September, Valneva revealed the Government had served notice over allegations of a breach of the agreement, which it "strenuously denies".

The former chairwoman of the country’s vaccine taskforce last year said the Government may have “acted in bad faith” in the way it cancelled the deal for the Valneva vaccine.

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Dame Kate Bingham, who stood down from her role at the end of 2020, criticised the decision to pull out of the agreement before Valneva had finished clinical testing of the vaccine.

The decision was not only a blow to international pandemic efforts, but would dampen the UK’s resilience to future disease outbreaks, Dame Kate said in a speech at Oxford University in November.

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