| Vaccinations are taking place in the Transvaco vaccine train, which was prepared for vaccination against the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) on August 27 (local time). Transnet, a South African railway company, has converted a train to create a COVID-19 vaccination center. © Reuters=News1 © News1 Reporter Jiwon Yoon |
Pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Moderna are starting to develop a vaccine to respond to the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) ‘Omicron’ (O) mutation.
According to Reuters on the 26th (local time), Pfizer and BioNTech said they could obtain data indicating the effectiveness of a vaccine against omicron mutations within at least two weeks.
If necessary, Pfizer expects to be able to create a new modified vaccine in about 100 days.
Moderna also explained that it is developing a booster shot candidate to respond to a new mutation, and is also experimenting with administering a higher dose of the existing vaccine and developing another candidate that can respond to multiple mutations at once.
In a statement that day, Moderna said, “Getting a booster shot from an approved vaccine is the only strategy to boost immunity.”
Novavax also announced on the same day that it has started researching a vaccine that can counteract the Omicron mutation. Novavax added that the new vaccine could be tested and manufactured in the coming weeks.
Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Janssen, also said it is testing its vaccine to see how effective it is against the Omicron mutation.
AstraZeneca also said it is conducting studies in Botswana and Eswatini to investigate the effect of the omimicron mutation on the vaccine.
AZ explained that it has developed a vaccine platform that can quickly respond to new mutations with Oxford University, which developed a vaccine for COVID-19 together.
On this day, the World Health Organization (WHO) named the new mutation (B.1.1.529) reported in South Africa ‘Omicron’ and classified it as a mutation of concern.
pasta@news1.kr
