It is still unclear how dangerous the new Corona variant Omikron is. Vaccine manufacturers are alarmed. Moderna is already researching an adaptation of the vaccine.
London – The vaccine manufacturer Moderna * started work on a vaccine against the Omicron variant * (B.1.1.529) on the last Thanksgiving holiday. Hundreds of his employees started working on a corresponding adaptation of the corona vaccine after the first publications about the mutant, the head of the pharmaceutical company, Paul Burton, said in a BBC interview on Sunday “Andrew Marr Show”. Thanksgiving fell on November 25th this year – last Thursday.
“It’s a virus that looks dangerous,” said Burton. “But I think we now have a lot of tools in our arsenal to fight it, so I’m optimistic.” It will be a few more weeks before we have any solid knowledge of how much the new Corona variant can affect the current vaccines and whether a new vaccine must be produced.
“If we have to make a brand new vaccine, I think it will be early 2022 before it really becomes available in large quantities,” said Moderna boss Burton. “The remarkable thing about the mRNA vaccines, the Moderna platform, is that we can move very quickly,” he said. Like the Biontech product, the Moderna vaccine is one of the mRNA vaccines whose adaptation to new variants is considered to be relatively feasible.
“Symptoms are different”: South Africa doctor now reports on unusual symptoms of the Omicron variant *. (dpa / ml) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
Rubric picture: © Nathan Laine / imago
