Effectiveness of COVID vaccines against new Omicron variant

Reevaluation of COVID Vaccines

The main producers of the COVID vaccines are evaluating the effectiveness of their vaccines against the new Omicron variant.

The South African variant of the virus, given the name of Omicron by the WHO, is forcing Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (known as Janssen in Europe) to question the effectiveness of their vaccines. The three American pharmaceutical companies informed the public this Friday November 26 that they were testing their vaccines against Omicron, and do not rule out the possibility of modifying the components.

The American company Novavax and the British AstraZeneca have also stated that they are analysing the effectiveness of their vaccines.

The Omicron variant, which has been detected in South Africa in the last few days, may also be more transmissible than previous ones, causing it to spread more rapidly. It combines 30 mutations, some of which have previously been seen in other variants, such as Beta, but it is the first time that they have been seen together. This is a cause for concern to the scientific community.

However, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that insufficient information about the new variant means it is too early to tell if it will be necessary to modify the ingredients of the vaccines or not.

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Written by

Tamsin Brown

Originally from London, Tamsin is based in Malaga and is a local reporter for the Euro Weekly News covering Spanish and international news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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