Existing COVID vaccines will struggle against the “highly transmissible” Omicron variant, the head of US vaccine manufacturer Moderna has said, adding that it will take months to develop a new shot that works.
Stephane Bancel told the Financial Times in an interview published on Tuesday that data would be available on the effectiveness of current vaccines in the next two weeks.
A growing number of countries have imposed travel restrictions after the new variant with a high number of mutations was detected in South Africa last week.
On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the global risk from the spread of Omicron was “very high”.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has said the strain should be considered a “cause for concern, not a cause for panic”. No Omicron-linked deaths have been reported yet.
Source
Stephane Bancel told the Financial Times in an interview published on Tuesday that data would be available on the effectiveness of current vaccines in the next two weeks.
A growing number of countries have imposed travel restrictions after the new variant with a high number of mutations was detected in South Africa last week.
On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the global risk from the spread of Omicron was “very high”.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has said the strain should be considered a “cause for concern, not a cause for panic”. No Omicron-linked deaths have been reported yet.
Source
