Moderna has announced that the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has authorized its updated COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, Spikevax®, targeting the SARS-CoV-2 LP.8.1 variant, for adults and children aged six months and above.
Following the MHRA decision, doses of the updated Spikevax® vaccine for the UK public will be supplied from the Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre (MITC) in Harwell, Oxfordshire, for the 2026 NHS COVID-19 vaccination campaign this spring.
“COVID-19 continues to pose a significant public health risk. Updating our vaccines to target the circulating LP.8.1 variant is essential to protect the UK public, particularly those most at clinical risk, and help ease pressure on the NHS,” said Darius Hughes, UK General Manager of Moderna. “With this approval from the MHRA, we are incredibly proud that our LP.8.1 vaccine will be the first commercially available mRNA vaccine manufactured within the UK. By building a sustainable UK-based supply, we are strengthening resilience to COVID-19, future-proofing the UK, and showcasing what British science can achieve when government, industry and researchers work together.”
The MITC was officially opened in September 2025 as part of a ten-year strategic partnership between Moderna and the UK Government, managed by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The partnership is designed to strengthen the UK’s pandemic preparedness by on-shoring vaccine manufacturing, securing timely access to mRNA vaccines and building long-term national capability across clinical research and advanced manufacturing, supporting the continued growth of the UK’s life sciences ecosystem.
The MHRA’s approval follows guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-CO-VAC), which recommended that COVID-19 vaccines be updated with the monovalent LP.8.1 antigen for 2026 vaccination campaigns.
Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine targeting LP.8.1 has already been granted approval by several key regulators including the FDA (United States) and EMA (European Union). Additional regulatory applications are under review in other jurisdictions around the world.
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