New Delhi: American pharmaceutical firm Moderna said on Sunday that it could reformulate the vaccine against the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in early 2022.
“We should know about the ability of the current vaccine to provide protection in the next couple of weeks,” Paul Burton, the Chief Medical Officer of Moderna said during an appearance on a BBC show.
“If we have to make a brand new vaccine, I think that’s going to be early 2022 before that’s really going to be available in large quantities,” Burton added.
The American vaccine maker mobilised hundreds of its staff last Thursday after the Omicron variant made global headlines. Burton pointed out on Sunday that current vaccines should protect against the variant, adding that all unvaccinated people should take the jab.
“If people are on the fence, and you haven’t been vaccinated, get vaccinated,” he said. This is a dangerous-looking virus, but I think we have many tools in our armamentarium now to fight it,” Moderna’s top executive told BBC.
