While two positive cases of the Omicron variant, originating from South Africa, were confirmed this Saturday in Great Britain and that European countries have decided to stop air flights from several African states, the British laboratory AstraZenaca claims to be able to develop “very quickly” a serum against the Omicron variant. On Friday, the American laboratory Moderna announced that it would want to propose “rapidly a vaccine candidate for a booster dose specific to the Omicron variant”. Pfizer / BioNTech and Novavax have also expressed confidence in their ability to combat the Omicron strain.
The British scientist who led the research on the Oxford / AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine said on Saturday that a new serum could be developed “very quickly” against the Omicron variant. Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said “extremely unlikely” that this new variant is spreading strongly within the vaccinated population, “as we saw last year” with the Delta variant. But if it was, “it would be possible to act very quickly”, he told the BBC, because “the process of developing a new vaccine is getting better and better”.
He believes, however, that current vaccines should work against the new strain. judged “worrying” by the WHO, but that would only be certain in the coming weeks.
Moderna gives herself two to three months for her vaccine candidate
“Moderna will rapidly develop a vaccine candidate for a booster dose specific to the Omicron variant”, the American company said in a statement Friday evening.
“In 2020-2021, this has already included booster doses for the Delta and Beta variants”, specified the laboratory, saying to have “repeatedly demonstrated its ability to get new candidates into clinical trials in 60-90 days”. “From the start, we have said that in order to fight the pandemic, it is imperative to be proactive in the face of the evolution of the virus”, said the boss of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, quoted in the press release.
The German laboratory BioNTech, allied with Pfizer, said to study this new variant, and to wait “at the latest in two weeks” initial results of studies which will make it possible to determine whether it is capable of escaping vaccine protection. It will be necessary “Several weeks” to understand the level of transmissibility and virulence of the new variant, the WHO spokesperson said on Friday. For the European Medicines Agency (EMA), it is “premature” to provide for an adaptation of the vaccines to the Omicron variant.