Vaccine makers pledge to develop Omicron-effective jab
pharmafile | November 29, 2021 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â Â
Leading vaccine producers have shared that they are already pursuing vaccine responses to the newly-discovered coronavirus variant, Omicron. BioNTech has shared that it is testing its vaccine against the latest COVID-19 variant to study vaccine efficacy against the mutation, and if it is found ineffective, Pfizer has announced that a new, tailor-made vaccine against COVID-19 will be ready in 100 days.
Moderna has shared that it will come up with a booster vaccine to resist the spread of Omicron, and that it has also been testing a higher dose of its existing booster, and other booster candidates designed to protect against multiple variants.
Other vaccine manufacturers, including Johnson & Johnson, have shared similar statements. Omicron has as many as 32 mutations affecting the vaccine-targeted spike protein, more than any other strain, including the globally-dominant Delta variation. Preliminary evidence suggests an elevated risk of reinfection with Omicron, compared to other Variants of Concern (VOC). BioNTech has shared that it is exploring whether or not it will have to alter its vaccine in any way, to take account for the new strain. AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have confirmed that they are already testing their adenovirus vector-based vaccines to combat the mutations, and Novavax has stated that it is working on a B.1.1.529 version of their recombinant protein-based vaccine.
Pfizer has stated that it had devised a comprehensive strategy to deal with new variants of coronavirus earlier this year, and made it clear that it would be known in two weeks whether the vaccine was effective against Omicron or not. The company shared that it had planned for the potential need of a rapid alteration of the vaccine in the case of new variants emerging.
Ana Ovey
