BioNTech and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine will likely offer strong protection against any severe disease from the new Omicron virus variant, BioNTech’s Chief Executive told Reuters, as the firm weighs the need to upgrade its commonly used shot.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on November 30 the regulatory agency was evaluating the effectiveness of authorized Covid-19 vaccines against the Omicron coronavirus variant and expects to have more information in the next few weeks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shifted its recommendation on adults getting a booster Covid-19 vaccine to now include everyone ages 18 years and older as the threat of the new Omicron variant looms.
Merck & Co. Inc.’s experimental Covid-19 drug molnupiravir should have similar activity against any new coronavirus variant, a company executive said on NOvember 30.
The head of drugmaker Moderna said COVID-19 vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus as they have been previously, sparking fresh worry in financial markets about the trajectory of the pandemic.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on November 29 everyone aged 18 years and older should get a booster shot, as the CDC looks to tackle a new and highly infectious strain of the coronavirus that is quickly spreading across the globe.
BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are working on vaccines that specifically target Omicron in case their existing shots are not effective against the new coronavirus variant, the companies said on November 29.
During Thanksgiving weekend, America – and the world – learned a new word: Omicron. It is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet and has a numerical value of 70. In the current context, however, where Greek numbers identify variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, omicron has a value of 30 – 30 gene mutations in its spike protein.
BioNTech SE said on Monday the company had started work on a vaccine tailored to Omicron, the worrying new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa.
The heavily mutated Omicron coronavirus variant is likely to spread internationally and poses a very high risk of infection surges that could have “severe consequences” in some places, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on November 29.