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Specific vaccines for the omicron variant could be ready in March. Will we need them?

2022-01-11T13:58:52.387Z


Pharmaceutical laboratories develop a specific reinforcement for this variant of COVID-19 that is triggering infections. But some experts doubt that it will be necessary.


By Berkeley Lovelace Jr. -

NBC News

Labs Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson said Monday that they are continuing to develop updated boosters of the COVID-19 vaccine targeting the omicron variant, which continues to spread rapidly around the world.

Current versions of booster vaccines available in the United States - the mRNA formulas from Pfizer and Moderna and the adenovirus version from Johnson & Johnson - remain formulated to attack the original form of the virus first identified in China in late 1990s. 2019.

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Research reveals that those vaccines still provide adequate protection against the new super contagious strain, especially serious illness, hospitalization and death.

However, drug makers have said they will continue to work on specific boosters against this variant should they become necessary.

Pfizer plans to begin studies of its booster against the omicron variant in humans in January and, if all goes as planned, the vaccine could be ready in March, the company told our sister network NBC News.

Pfizer said it expects to provide an "update" on the next steps of its modified injection later this month.

Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in an interview on our sister network CNBC that the company's new reinforcement against omicron should be in clinical trials "very soon."

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It also revealed that the company is in discussions with public health leaders around the world about the best strategy to distribute a potential fourth dose later this fall.

"We think it will contain omicron mRNA," he said.

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Jake Sargent, a Johnson & Johnson spokesman, said the company did not have an update on its modified vaccine at this time.

Instead, it referred NBC News to a statement from the company in late November saying it was seeking a specific omicron vaccine and that it "will progress as needed."

However, it's not clear that the omicron-specific vaccines, or additional doses, would be necessary when ready, according to health experts.

John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, noted that by the time the new vaccines are ready to be deployed, "the omicron will almost certainly have passed."

A nurse prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 at the Coliseo Tomás Dones, in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on Saturday, January 8, 2022.Carlos Giusti / AP

"Omicron infections abroad have gone up and then back down very quickly,"

he said.

“In the US, the current huge increase is likely to end sometime in February.

And omicron is so different that a specific boost for that variant wouldn't work well against the variants we've been more used to, "he said.

Dr Peter Hotez agrees, saying the world is likely to be battling a new global variant by this summer.

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Hotez and his colleagues at the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development developed a low-cost vaccine, called Corbevax, which was licensed for emergency use in India.

"I think instead of focusing on specific sequence reinforcements, you need to improve the mRNA technology to make it more durable," he said. "The sharp decline in the effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech versus omicron after just a few months creates new challenges," he added.

Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children's Hospital Philadelphia, said the United States should not distribute a modified vaccine until a variant emerges that could evade protection against severe disease.

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The current vaccine "has continued to be very successful in protecting against serious disease," he recalled.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had no immediate comment.

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Should the Americans require additional reinforcements, the Biden administration would likely have to make arrangements with drug makers to ensure supply and distribution, experts say.

Pfizer has supplied more than 370 million doses of its vaccine in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Moderna has distributed more than 235 million doses of vaccines, and J&J more than 29 million.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-01-11

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