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Biontech CEO Ugur Şahin expects the existing vaccine to provide protection against severe disease even with the new Omicron virus mutation.
“We think it is likely that vaccinated people will have significant protection against severe disease caused by Omicron,” Biontech CEO Ugur Şahin told Reuters news agency on Tuesday. He expects that this protection will be even more pronounced once people have received their third vaccination.
Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel had earlier warned to the Financial Times that existing vaccines against omicron are less effective. “There is no reason to be particularly worried from my point of view. The only thing that worries me at the moment is that there are people who have not been vaccinated at all,” Şahin said.
He expects more clarity on the effectiveness of existing vaccines in about 14 days after laboratory tests are evaluated.
Whether an adjusted vaccine might be needed will be known in the coming weeks and months, he said. Şahin said Biontech is prepared for this in principle. If necessary, he said, the vaccine could be adapted against the Omicron variant within three months and the first batches could be delivered within 100 days.
According to Şahin, there is no evidence so far that infections with Omicron are more severe.
— source: heute.at/picture:pixabay.com
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