Booster shots that protect against both the highly-infectious Omicron variant, and the original Covid strain, will be available to the public from next month.

The government made the announcement after around 770,000 doses of the so-called bivalent shots arrived here on Friday. But the Secretary for the Civil Service, Ingrid Yeung, who is in charge of the Covid vaccination programme, said these BioNTech bivalent jabs would only be available as a fourth dose alternative.

"The bivalent vaccine is only for those who are having their fourth dose," she said. "Those who are having their first to third dose, they will not have this choice of the bivalent vaccine or the one that we have already been using."

Currently, the public can choose between the original BioNTech mRNA vaccine, marketed here as Comirnaty, and the Sinovac deactivated virus jab.

The government recommends two groups receive a fourth dose, namely people over 50 and anyone with a weak immune system. People under 50 can also get a fourth Covid shot on a voluntary basis.

The Government has procured a total of 1.9 million doses of the BioNTech bivalent mRNA vaccine. The remaining doses are expected by the end of the year.

mRNA vaccines are new type of vaccine that trigger the body to produce a protein which leads to an immune response.