Pfizer has already started work on a version of the COVID vaccine against omicron

Pfizer It has already started working on a new version of its anti-COVID vaccine aimed more specifically at the omicron variant, in case the current immunizer is not sufficiently effective against this variation, assured the executive director of the American pharmaceutical company, Albert Bourla.

“There are still many things that are unknown” about the new variant, detected in southern Africa and considered “worrisome” by the WHO, said the executive in an interview with the US network CNBC.

“We will know the essentials of what we need to know in a few weeks,” he added.

Trials will be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the current vaccine, developed with BioNTech, against omicron. But if “it protects less and we see the need to create a new vaccine, we have started working since Friday. We have made our first DNA model, which is the first stage in the development of a new vaccine, “he explained.

Pfizer has already created two new versions of its vaccine in less than a hundred days, against the delta and beta variants, which were ultimately not used. “In 95 days, we will have the new omicron vaccine,” Bourla said.

The Moderna laboratory, which also produces a vaccine against COVID-19, announced on Friday its intention to develop a specific booster dose for omicron.

However, the director of Pfizer assured that they continue to “trust” the vaccine that is currently being distributed, indicating that the pharmaceutical company used “a good dosage from the beginning.”

The anti-COVID pill developed by Pfizer to treat the disease, which has been shown to be 89% effective against hospitalizations and deaths in clinical trials, was meanwhile “developed with the idea” that virus mutations would appear, Bourla said.

“I am confident in the ability (of the pill) to work with all mutations, including omicron,” he said.