Pfizer is already working on a vaccine against the Omicron variant!

Pfizer is not wasting its time in the face of the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, which sent a shock wave on the stock market. The health giant has already started work on a new version of its anti-Covid vaccine targeting more specifically Omicron in case the current vaccine is not sufficiently effective against the new variant, underlines Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. “There are still a lot of unknowns” around the new variant detected in South Africa and considered “worrying” by the WHO, he said in an interview on the American channel CNBC. “We will know most of what there is to know in a few weeks.”

In particular, tests must first be carried out to assess the effectiveness of current vaccines, developed with BioNTech, against Omicron. But “if the (current) vaccine protects less and we need to create a new vaccine, we started working on it on Friday, we made our first DNA model, which is the first step in developing a new one. vaccine, ”he explained. Pfizer has already created in the past two new versions of its vaccine in less than a hundred days, against the Delta and Beta variants, which were ultimately not used. If necessary, “in 95 days, we will have the new vaccine” against Omicron, assured Mr. Bourla.

The group has the capacity to produce four billion doses as needed next year, he also said. The Moderna laboratory, which also produces a vaccine against Covid, announced on Friday its intention to develop a specific booster dose for Omicron. The CEO of Pfizer, however, assures to be “fairly confident” in the vaccine currently distributed, “because we have achieved the right dosage from the start.”

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The anti-Covid pill developed by Pfizer to treat the disease, which has shown an effectiveness of 89% against hospitalizations and deaths during clinical trials, was also “developed with the idea” that mutations of the virus would appear , also noted Albert Bourla.

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“I am very, very confident in the ability (of the pill) to work with all mutations, including Omicron,” he said. “You have to keep in mind (…) that the situation is different when you have a treatment” which reduces the number of people going to the hospital from ten to one, he added.

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