Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, pharmaceutical powerhouses that have helped Canada and other countries manage the rapidly evolving coronavirus, now have a collective eye on a new variant: omicron.
Both mRNA vaccines were recently licensed for use and distribution of booster vaccines by Health Canada, giving millions the opportunity to get ahead of omicron. Although little is known about how the latter variant affects the general population compared to delta, the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned that it is not yet clear whether the omicron variant is more contagious than others.
“Preliminary data suggests that there is an increase in hospitalization rates in South Africa, but this may be due to the increase in the total number of infected people, rather than the result of a specific infection with omicron,” the WHO said on Friday after designating it. as a variant. of concern.
“There is currently no information to suggest that the symptoms associated with omicron are different from those of other variants. The infections initially reported were among college students, younger people who tend to have milder illness, but understanding the level of severity of the Omicron variant will take days to several weeks. “
After a period of low transmission in South Africa, new cases began to increase rapidly in mid-November. The country is now seeing close to 3,000 new confirmed infections per day.
WHO said it is currently working with technical partners “to understand the potential impact of this variant on our existing countermeasures, including vaccines.” However, the ambiguity about whether the mRNA formula from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna can safely protect against serious diseases largely remains up in the air.
On Tuesday, Pfizer founder Ugur Sahin told the Wall Street Journal in an exclusive interview that while the new variant could spread more quickly, the mRNA vaccine was more likely to protect against critical illness.
People vaccinated with Pfizer / BioNTech will likely be protected from serious illness if infected with Omicron, says CEO of BioNTech – WSJ
– BNO newsroom (@BNODesk) November 30, 2021
Two weeks ago, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the emergency use authorization of a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to include people 18 years of age and older.
As more health officials try to quell fears, insisting that vaccines remain the best defense, the WHO says the world must redouble its efforts to get vaccines to all parts of the world.
On the other hand, Moderna is less optimistic that its current mRNA formulation will prove successful in offering protection against omicron.
Global markets continued to waver on every medical news, be it worrying or reassuring. Shares fell on Wall Street in the morning after Moderna’s chief executive officer raised concerns about the effectiveness of the omicron vaccines.
On a television interview with BloombergModerna co-founder Noubar Afeyan admitted that he is concerned about the number of mutations of the new variant and the risk it poses.
Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, told the Financial Times mutations could mean modifying your mRNA vaccine.
“There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] it is the same level. . . we had with [the] Delta [variant]”Bancel said during the interview. In recent conversations with scientists, Bancel said the consensus is not overly optimistic.
As of Tuesday, Moderna’s market shares fell 5.3 percent.
In a press release published Friday, Moderna said it is “working rapidly to test the ability of the current vaccine dose to neutralize the omicron variant,” adding that data is expected in the coming weeks.
“Since early 2021, Moderna has advanced a comprehensive strategy to anticipate new variants of concern,” said the pharmaceutical company. “This strategy includes three levels of response in case the currently licensed 50 µg booster dose of mRNA-1273 proves insufficient to increase diminished immunity against the omicron variant.”
As part of that launch, Bancel called Moderna’s response “imperative” as the virus evolves.
“Mutations in the omicron variant are concerning and for several days, we have moved as quickly as possible to execute our strategy to address this variant,” Bancel said.
“We have three lines of defense that we are advancing in parallel: we have already evaluated a higher dose boost of mRNA-1273 (100 µg), second, we are already studying two multivalent boost candidates in the clinic that were designed to anticipate mutations such as those that have emerged in the Omicron variant and data is expected in the coming weeks, and third, we are rapidly moving forward on a specific Omicron booster candidate. “
The WHO says other treatments, including Pfizer’s booster vaccine, will be evaluated to see if they remain as effective given the changes in parts of the virus in the omicron variant. For its part, Pfizer-BioNTech said its Phase 3 booster trial continues to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a 30 µg booster dose in more than 10,000 people 16 years of age and older in the US, Brazil and South Africa. .
Ontario, meanwhile, continues its investigation into four other possible cases of the COVID-19 omicron variant after the country’s first two positive samples were detected in Ottawa. Hundreds of people who had recently traveled from African countries considered high risk for the variant were contacted for testing.
Ontario’s chief medical officer for health, Dr. Kieran Moore, said Monday that the government is reviewing the measures and is expected to update the province booster launch as soon as this week. As it stands, people age 70 and older are eligible for booster shots, as well as anyone who has received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
Reference-toronto.citynews.ca