The Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the world. As part of the fight against the epidemic, vaccination studies continue at full speed, while new variants complicate the situation. The last of these, the Omicron variant, appeared a while ago in South Africa.
Omicron, a mutated version of the virus, is of particular concern as it has too many mutations compared to other variants, including delta and beta. Finally, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel scared everyone with the statements he made in an interview with the Financial Times.
Current vaccines are ineffective against Omicron
Making some alarming statements, Stephane Bancel said that current vaccines will be less effective against Omicron than previous variants. Stating that they are working on stronger vaccines, Bancel said that it may still take months for pharmaceutical companies to develop new vaccines.
This variant, which scientists call B. 1. 1.529, carries at least 10 mutations. This is why it takes much longer for vaccines to become available as well. Bancel also said that the impact of the Omicron variant on patients will be evident in the coming period.
BioNTech gave 100 days
A similar statement came a while ago by BioNTech. Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin’s company, BioNTech, announced that they will learn within two weeks whether the current coronavirus vaccine is effective against the new variant in question. However, the firm said they would be able to produce a new vaccine if needed. If the new COVID-19 variant escapes the antibodies of the existing vaccine, BioNTeh will produce a new vaccine within 100 days.
BioNTech emphasized that they are already wary of virus types such as the Omicron variant. He stated that they have been doing new research for months, taking into account the variants that can escape the antibodies of existing vaccines. BioNTech announced that it can adapt the mRNA vaccine to the new variant within 6 weeks.
So what do you think about this subject? Could the Omicron variant in question cause the epidemic to worsen in the future? You can share your views with us in the comments section.
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