Omicron: A new vaccine is needed, according to BioNTech’s boss

A new, more suitable vaccine may be needed to combat the Omicron variant, BioNTech’s CEO said Friday.

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“I basically believe we need a new vaccine against this new variant,” said Ugur Sahin, co-creator of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and head of the BioNTech laboratory.

The scientist expressed concern about the new variant, which Liberation reported as “infecting vaccinated or cured individuals”, although “the vaccine continues to protect against the more severe forms of COVID-19 variant anyway”.

Although experts are still unsure whether the current vaccine will effectively protect against the new variant of COVID-19, Sahin said, “Bioentech can quickly change its vaccine if needed.”

The head of the laboratory also admitted that he thought the new variant would only appear next year and that the time had not yet come to develop this new vaccine.

However, if necessary, Bioentech estimates that it will take about six weeks to develop a new vaccine and one hundred days to deliver the first batch.

His American rival, Moderna’s boss, Stefan Bansal, also believes that an appropriate vaccine is needed to combat omicran. She argues that the pharmaceutical company could also produce this new vaccine in three months.