Pfizer will create a vaccine against the South African variant of Covid-19 in 100 days if the current one does not work

The Covid-19 variant discovered in South Africa is awakening ancient ghosts. The possibility of a massive and rapid contagion has set off the alarms of the health systems. For this reason, Pfizer has said that have an updated version of your vaccine ready in as little as 100 days if Omicron was resistant to the current version.

Despite the fact that only a few days ago the authorities discovered this variant in South Africa, several cases have already been detected in other countries, such as Israel, UK or Belgium.

This situation has forced governments to impose a series of movement restrictions between territories in Europe, Asia and North America, as already reported Insider.

WHO has labeled Omicron as ‘variant of concern’

If during this summer the Delta variant hit a large part of the planet, now is the time for Omicron, a variant that could be more resistant to antibodies generated by current vaccines.

The variant itself has multiple mutations that can make the virus spread easily, even among vaccinated people. This is why the World Health Organization (WHO) has labeled Omicron as a ‘variant of concern’, a distinction given to the most threatening variants of Covid-19.

Health authorities still do not know if current vaccines can protect the population from the variant, so companies such as Pfizer are watching the development of the virus.

Pfizer took steps to be able to adapt its vaccine to any variant in a short time

As the company reported in a statement, Pfizer took steps months ago to be able to adapt your vaccine quickly to the demands of the virus.

“Pfizer and BioNTech took steps months ago to be able to tailor the mRNA vaccine in six weeks and ship the initial batches in 100 days in the event of an escape variant,” he said.

The pharmaceutical company has already communicated that it hopes to know the resistance of Omicron to current vaccines within two weeks, so you might have a solution for February if it is.

Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are also preparing a response

For its part, Moderna has also reported that it will test a variant of its current vaccine as a booster. “From the beginning, we have said that as we seek to defeat the pandemic, it is imperative that we be proactive as the virus evolves. Mutations in the Omicron variant are concerning and for several days we have been moving as fast as possible. to execute our strategy to address this variant, “said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of the pharmaceutical company.

Similarly, Johnson & Johnson has released a statement to inform that it also intends to test the effectiveness of its vaccine over the next few days.