Vaccine manufacturers have expressed confidence that they will be able to quickly adapt their vaccines if the omicron coronavirus variant is expanded.
Passengers at the airport in Johannesburg are waiting for a flight to Paris, Photo AP
Pfizer and Biontek expect to be able to develop and produce a customized vaccine against that variant in approximately 100 days, provided they are approved by regulatory bodies.
The new strain, formerly known as B.1.1.529, is characterized by some worrying mutations, and early evidence suggests that it carries an increased risk of re-infection.
There are also fears that this variant could be more resistant to the vaccines that have been produced so far.
“Moderna” announced that it has improved a comprehensive strategy for predicting new variants from the beginning of 2021, including three levels of response if the immunity offered by its vaccines weakens.
Novavax added that it has already started creating a vaccine against kovid 19 based on the known genetic sequence B.1.1.529 and that it will be ready to start testing and production in the next few weeks.
AP Photo
The World Health Organization announced the day before yesterday that it named the new strain of corona, which it classified as “worrying”, “omicron” according to the letter of the Greek alphabet.
The new strain B.1.1.529 is a cause for concern and may spread faster than other variants, and preliminary research shows that the strain carries a higher risk of reinfection than other strains, the WHO said in a statement.
Yesterday, several European countries confirmed that cases of omicron strain infection have been recorded on their territory. In the United Kingdom, two cases of the new strain have been identified in people who traveled to South Africa, said the British Minister of Health, Sajid Javid.
Testing in South Africa, Photo AP
The Republic of South Africa (South Africa) assessed yesterday that it was punished for its ability to detect new variants of kovida 19 early, because travel bans and restrictions imposed by many countries due to the new variant of the omicron virus threaten to harm tourism and other sectors of the economy.
2,211 INFECTED, 53 PERSONS DEAD
In the last 24 hours, 2,211 newly infected with corona were registered in SERBIA out of a total of 13,817 tested persons. As a result of the corona virus, 53 people died in the same period. There are currently 212 patients on respirators, out of 4,561 hospitalized.
Waiting for the vaccine in Germany, Photo AP
KON: THE VIRUS SURVIVES AND RETURNS
The appearance of a new variant of the corona virus called omicron shows the evolutionary potential of that virus, ie that the virus will survive and will keep coming back to us, said epidemiologist and member of the Crisis Staff Dr. Predrag Kon.
Dr. Conn warns that the emergence of a new variant must not be ignored, especially since it has been shown that the number of mutations is 32, which is significantly more than the previous mutations, which were up to 10.
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