In the midst of a new wave of coronavirus cases around the world, the US laboratory Pfizer announced today that it expects to have ready by March a vaccine against Covid-19 adapted to the Ómicron variant, for which “the factory has already begun to produce”. The company’s chief executive, Alberto Bourla, told CNBC television, according to the AFP news agency: “I don’t know if we will need it, I don’t know if it will be used, or how, but we will be ready; we hope to be able to come up with a product that protects much better against infections in particular, because protection against hospitalizations and severe cases is quite reasonable with current vaccines if you have received the third dose.”
However, more studies are needed to determine whether a fourth dose is needed, something already applied in Israel and Chile. “I don’t know if there’s a need for a fourth booster dose, but it has to be tested. We will do experiments,” he added on this issue. The executive indicated in late November that his company had already begun work on a new version of the vaccine aimed more specifically at containing the ómicron variant. For his part, the general director of the US laboratory Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, indicated that the company is also working on a booster dose aimed at attacking Ómicron. We are discussing with public health leaders around the world to decide what we believe is the best strategy for possible reinforcement by fall 2022. We believe it will contain Ómicron,” Bancel told CNBC.
