The Omicron bugbear, a new Covid variant that has emerged in South Africa, is making the world anxious and causing a substantial correction on the markets. Today added the worrying words of the CEO of Moderna about the possibility that the new variant makes the current vaccines less effective.
However, the University of Oxford indicated today that there is no evidence that the new omicron variant defeats the vaccine developed with AstraZeneca Plc, in contrast to the more pessimistic views advanced by some other vaccine manufacturers. The reference is to the words of the CEO of Moderna, Stephane Bancel, who told the FT that he believes that existing vaccines are less effective against the new variant of Covid, while the World Health Organization has warned that the omicron variant could fuel a new increase in infections with serious consequences. In addition, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said its treatment with COVID-19 antibodies and other similar drugs may be less effective against the Omicron variant.
Meanwhile, the European Union to date has recorded at least 44 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in 11 countries, but so far all of these are asymptomatic or people with mild symptoms, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Findings that go in the direction of what was also stated by Dr. Coetzee who discovered the new South African variant and defined the symptoms presented by the subjects who contracted it as ‘mild’.