The new Corona variant Omikron is spreading. Vaccine manufacturers are now testing their products for effectiveness.
Frankfurt – The new Corona variant B.1.1.529, called Omikron, is causing concern in research and politics. In containing the variant, a lot depends on how well the existing vaccines protect against it. Several vaccine manufacturers have already commented on their plans to use Omikron, and a plan B is already in the works.
“We have mobilized hundreds of people,” said Moderna boss Paul Burton on Sunday (November 28, 2021) in an interview with the BBC. As early as Thanksgiving Thursday, the company started tests to examine the effect of the in-house Spikevax vaccine against the corona mutation Omikron. Burton is expecting results in the coming weeks.
Biontech, Moderna and Co. are testing corona vaccines for effectiveness against Omikron
Biontech also reported such a procedure. On Friday (November 27th, 2021), the Mainz-based company announced that it was expecting data on the effectiveness of the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine against Omikron in two weeks. The manufacturers Astrazeneca and Johnson & Johnson are also testing their corona vaccines. But what does the plan look like if the established vaccines do not protect against the new variant, which has been classified as worrying by the WHO?
The vaccination triggers an immune reaction that protects against the coronavirus. If a virus evades this reaction due to mutations, one speaks of an “escape variant”. In this case, a new vaccine would have to be found. The companies Moderna and Biontech announced that they would develop adapted vaccines to contain Omikron if necessary. The schedule is ambitious.
Corona variant Omikron: New vaccine conceivable
“If we have to produce a brand new vaccine, I think that it will be available in large quantities in early 2022,” announced Moderna boss Paul Burton in the BBC. Biontech also plans to send a customized vaccine in about a hundred days. The technical adaptation of such mRNA vaccines is in principle relatively simple and quick, said the head of the Institute for Virology at the Justus Liebig University, Friedemann Weber on ZDF. “That can be done in one to two weeks.”
Elsewhere, however, there is a warning against the rapid development of new corona vaccines. The responsible EU authority EMA currently considers such an approach to be premature. Friedemann Weber explains the reluctance of ZDF: “If the manufacturers were to adapt the vaccine to it, they would have an enormous amount of effort, which is actually unnecessary – and would perhaps stick with their current vaccine stocks.”
At the same time, the number of corona cases in Germany continues to rise. (vbu)
List of rubric lists: © Philipp von Ditfurth / dpa
