BioNTech: What is Omicron?
The CEO of the US drugmaker Moderna has predicted that existing vaccines will be less effective against Omicron but the BioNTech boss is not panicking. Instead, he says the vaccines need a little tweak and that will be enough to defeat Omicron!
Stéphane Bancel’s statement caused a jolt in global stock markets after he said it would take months to tweak vaccines to combat Omicron.
That may not be the case at all, in the end, and Omicron may not go viral like the Delta virus, according to some experts.
Ugur Sahin, BioNTech boss, told The Economist he is not scared of the spread of Omicron.
In the lab, the company is testing its current formulation against Omicron. It is noticeably different from previously observed variants. It has approximately 50 mutations, more than 30 of which are on its spike protein, the structure that studs the virus’s surface and allows it to lock onto and insert its genome into human cells. This spike protein is used in the development of vaccines.
Sahin also attempted to allay fears that the vaccinated population would become very ill if infected with Omicron, though he was unable to completely alleviate them.
He claims that his “scientific expectation” is that people who have been vaccinated with boosters will become only mildly or moderately ill if they contract Omicron.