BioNTech issued a statement on Monday that it has already started developing a new Covid-19 vaccine that aims to combat the Omicron variant.
The German biotechnology company, which partners with Pfizer, said that it had initiated “the development of an adopted vaccine” for Omicron to allow it to “move forward quickly”.
Scientists and health officials around the world are closely tracking Omicron, which was first detected in South Africa. According to health experts, the new variant shows signs of being more transmissible or dangerous than other variants of the Coronavirus.
The WHO labeled Omicron a “variant of concern” on Friday, although officials have stressed that relatively little is known about the variant at this stage.
Moderna said on Sunday that it expects to have a new version of its vaccine available by early 2022 and that it should know whether its current vaccine offers sufficient protection in the next two weeks.
The BioNTech spokesperson said: “We understand the concern of experts and have immediately initiated investigations on the omicron variant (B.1.1.529) as well as the development of an adapted vaccine as part of our standard procedure for new variants.”
They added: “The first steps of developing a potential new vaccine overlap with the research necessary in order to evaluate whether a new shot will be needed. The objective of this approach, which was initiated last Thursday, is to move forward quickly if a variant-specific vaccine is needed.”
The BioNTech spokesperson continued: “We expect data from the laboratory tests in about two weeks. These data will provide more information about whether B.1.1.529 could be an escape variant that may require an adjustment of our vaccine if the variant spreads globally.”
Pfizer and BioNTech took actions months ago to be able to adapt the mRNA vaccine within 6 weeks and ship initial batches within 100 days in the event of an escape variant. To that end, the companies have begun clinical trials with variant-specific vaccines (beta and delta) to collect safety and tolerability data that can be provided to regulators.
BioNTech said Friday it would be able to ship out new versions of its Covid-19 vaccine within 100 days if a new variant presented itself.
Sources: Business Insider, Yahoo
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