Moderna believes vaccines might not be as effective “against the omicron variant”

The emergence of the new variant of Covid-19, omicron, has put expectations on a possible definitive recovery after the pandemic in check. Especially after the interview given by the president of the American laboratory of Moderna, Stephane Bancel, to the Financial Times, who has stated that vaccines might not be effective in this case.

“All the scientists I’ve talked to feel that this is not going to be good,” said Bancel, who explained that 32 of the 50 mutations in the strain are found in the spicule protein, that is, part of the virus that coronavirus vaccines use to boost the immune system.

Indeed, the CEO of Moderna acknowledged that there is a “significant decline” in the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines. While it is currently supplying between 2 and 3 billion doses of the current formulation for next year, Bancel believes that focusing all production on fighting this variant would be dangerous.

“I don’t think there’s any world where efficiency is at the same level as we had with the Delta variant. I think it’s going to be a major drop, but I don’t know how much, because we have to wait for the data, “Bancel insisted. Even so, both Moderna and Pfizer have announced that they are working specifically on immunization against this variant.