london the uks drug regulator said saturday it had approved an updated covid19 jab by pfizerbiontech targeting the original virus and a subvariant ahead of an autumn booster drivethe socalled bivalent jabs work for both the original virus that emerged in the chinese city of wuhan in 2019 and the ba1 subvariant of omicronthe uk medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency mhra approved the pfizer jab as a booster for those aged 12 and over after a careful review of the evidencethe uk regulator last month okayed a similar bivalent vaccine by moderna becoming the first country to do somhra chief executive june raine said i am pleased to announce that we now have a second approved vaccine for the uk autumn booster programmethe national health service in england and scotland will begin a fresh booster rollout on monday starting with care home residents and eventually inviting everyone over 50the other uk regions of wales and northern ireland are also launching similar campaignsthe bbc reported saturday that the moderna bivalent shot would be offered first but added that the uk did not have enough supplies to cover everyone over 50the european union and the united states have recently authorised the updated version of the pfizer vaccine and moderna vaccines