The British pharmaceutical company Moderna announced Friday in a press release its intention to "rapidly develop a vaccine candidate for a booster dose specific to the Omicron variant" of Covid-19, detected in South Africa and deemed "of concern" by the World Organization for health (WHO).
After #Pfizer this morning, at all from #Moderna to communicate on #Omicron.
The group will test two candidate vaccines that could be effective against this variant, and they also intend to develop a specific booster vaccine.https: //t.co/iMFdwegHcR pic.twitter.com/r2VoiwLAZC
- Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod) November 26, 2021
The announcement is part of a strategy to work on specific booster doses for variants of concern, according to Moderna.
"In 2020-2021, this has already included booster doses for the Delta and Beta variants," said the laboratory, saying that it "has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to move new candidates to the stage of clinical trials in 60- 90 days ”.
"The only strategy available"
"From the start, we said that to fight the pandemic, it was 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.
“Mutations in the Omicron variant are of concern and, for several days, we have been moving as quickly as possible to execute our strategy to fight this variant,” he added.
Read also Covid-19: what do we know about the new variant, with the profile of "horrible" mutations, identified in South Africa?
According to the laboratory, "the recently discovered Omicron variant includes mutations already observed in the Delta variant which increase transmissibility and mutations observed in the Beta and Delta variants which promote lowering of the immune system," says the laboratory.
This is why "the development of a booster dose represents the only strategy currently available to strengthen the declining immunity," the statement added.
Pfizer capable of delivering appropriate doses in 100 days
The German laboratory BioNTech, allied with Pfizer, said to study this new variant, and to wait “at the latest in two weeks” of first results of studies which will make it possible to determine if it is able to escape the vaccine protection.
According to Pfizer / BioNTech, a vaccine can be developed in less than six weeks and the first doses "delivered in 100 days" if a variant is found to be resistant.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has for its part considered "premature" to start developing new vaccines when the properties of the Omicron variant are not yet really known.
This new variant is causing real concern globally as it spreads outside South Africa, prompting the world to gradually close its borders to southern Africa.
In Europe, Belgium has detected a first case.
One case was reported in Hong Kong and one in Israel in a person returning from Malawi.
According to European health authorities, the risk of the variant spreading in Europe is "high to very high".
