Pfizer plans to manufacture updated vaccine against Omicron; 'can be built in 100 days'

After the emergence of the highly mutated 'Omicron' variant, questions are being raised on its potential of evading the immunity, and therefore, the demands for the booster shots of vaccines are rising. Amid this, Pfizer informed that the pharma company is further working to build an updated vaccine response against the Omicron variant, and it can be built within 100 days.

The announcement comes at a time when the speculations are rife that the newly detected variant, designated as ‘variant of concern’ could be ‘highly transmissible’ owing to its multiple mutations in the spike protein. Though the World Health Organization has sounded the high alert on the variant, they are still evaluating the effects of the variant against the vaccines. 

Pfizer plans to manufacture an updated vaccine against 'Omicron', 

According to a PTI report, Pfizer's chief executive, Dr Albert Bourla, told the BBC that yearly vaccines will be required to maintain a  high degree of protection against COVID-19. Speaking of the same, Dr Bourla emphasised the need for booster shots against the disease which has claimed the lives of over five million people worldwide. 

Now the company is looking forward to developing the updated shots for the new variant. The company had also made updated shots for the Beta (Originated in South Africa) and Delta Variant (Originated in India), however, they were not needed, as the original dose was effective to combat the variants.

Bourla spoke to the BBC before the Omicron variant was discovered in South Africa. As per the report, the statement was made even before the UK government announced that it had inked contracts to purchase 54 million additional Pfizer-BioNTech and 60 million Moderna shots for the years 2022 and 2023. 

3 Billion Pfizer vaccines will be sold by end of the 2021

As per a report by PTI, these agreements include access to updated vaccines if needed to address Omicron and future variations of concern. Vaccines saved millions of lives during the pandemic, he added, and without them, the "basic structure of our civilization" would be jeopardised. Pfizer asserts that the company will sell three billion doses of its messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) based COVID vaccine by the end of the year, with four billion doses scheduled for next year.

According to Dr Bourla, there has been a global race to safeguard people, but by 2022, countries will have "as many doses as they need." Across the globe, COVID-19 cases and deaths have now reached 263,565,559 and 5,225,667, respectively. According to Johns Hopkins University, the total number of vaccination doses provided worldwide is 8,041,107,778 so far.

With PTI Inputs

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