The chief executive of Moderna Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) has predicted that existing vaccines will be less effective against the Omicron variant than other strains of coronavirus.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Stéphane Bancel said the high number of Omicron mutations on the spike protein and the rapid spread of the variant in South Africa suggest that existing vaccines may need to be modified, which could take months.
“There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level . . . we had with [the] Delta [variant],” Bancel said.
“I think it’s going to be a material drop.”
READ: Omicron: All UK adults to get Pfizer or Moderna booster
Bancel’s comments come after health experts and politicians yesterday sounded more optimistic about the ability of existing vaccines to cope with Omicron.
Scott Gottlieb, a director of Pfizer and former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, yesterday told CNBC: “There’s a reasonable degree of confidence in vaccine circles that [with] at least three doses . . . the patient is going to have fairly good protection against this variant.”
And US President Joe Biden said Omicron was “a cause for concern, not a cause for panic,” adding that the US government’s medical experts “believe that the vaccines will continue to provide a degree of protection against severe disease”.
But Bancel told the FT that scientists are worried because 32 of the 50 mutations in the Omicron variant are on the spike protein, which current vaccines focus on to boost the human body’s immune system to combat COVID-19.