Omikron vaccine: Moderna makes people sit up and take notice with a schedule for adjustment
Created: 12/14/2021 Updated: 12/14/2021, 5:09 AM
From: Marcus Giebel
If the Omikron wave cannot be slowed down decisively: The vaccine from Moderna also has to be adapted.
© PHILIPPE LOPEZ / afp
Corona wave after corona wave sweeps across the world.
One thing is already clear: the next one will be driven by Omikron.
It will take some time until the vaccines are adjusted.
Munich - Omikron is employing scientists at the end of the second Corona year.
Where and when did the Sars-CoV-2 mutation come about?
How dangerous is it anyway?
And above all: How can one really effectively protect humanity from it?
So far it only seems certain that the currently approved vaccines alone will not be able to prevent an Omikron wave in Germany and many other countries.
The variant discovered in South Africa must now be researched all the faster.
Vaccines against Omikron: Moderna does not commit itself to adjustment in the spring
Because the vaccine should be adapted to the new risk as quickly as possible.
Biontech has been working feverishly on a solution with its US partner Pfizer since the end of November.
According to Ugur Sahin, head of the Mainz pharmaceutical company, the new preparation could come on the market at the end of March.
The schedule is similar for Moderna, which is producing the second vaccine that is currently widely used in Germany.
Nor does President Stephen Hoge want to commit too much to one month.
"Realistically, the Omikron-specific boosters will not come before March and maybe more in the second quarter," the Reuters agency quotes him.
Patience may therefore even be necessary until June, i.e. until summer.
By then, however, Omikron will very likely have long been responsible for the vast majority of infections in the world.
Video: How well do the different vaccines protect against Omikron?
Omicron vaccines: "Scientists say, 'This won't be good'"
In an interview with the
Financial Times
,
Moderna managing director Stéphane Bancel emphasized
once again how essential the adjustment is.
“There is no scenario in which the effectiveness has the same level as we had with the Delta variant,” he classified the effect of the current vaccines: “All the scientists I spoke to say: 'That won't be good. '"
It is known that the current booster cycle is already showing its effect.
But there is increasing evidence that the third prick will not be the last (vaccination) act in this pandemic.
(mg)
