Reformulated vaccine for Omicron may be ready by early 2022: Moderna
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New Delhi: Moderna Inc. Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton said he suspects the new omicron coronavirus variant may elude current vaccines, and if so, a reformulated shot could be available early in the new year.
"We should know about the ability of the current vaccine to provide protection in the next couple of weeks," Burton said Sunday on the BBC's "Andrew Marr 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," he said. "The remarkable thing about the mRNA vaccines, the Moderna platform, is that we can move very fast," he said.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company mobilized "hundreds" of staff early on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., after news of the omicron variant spread.
Protection should still exist, depending on how long ago a person was vaccinated, and for now the best advice is to take one of the current Covid-19 vaccines, Burton said.
"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."
Read also: USFDA authorizes Moderna COVID vaccine booster shots for all adults
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